Lusitania
by Sirius White
Summary: [Complete] Lusitania: A new magic school and new characters. Set during HP and the Globet of Fire, the school takes place in Portugal!
1. The Mystery of Patrick

Obligatory Author's Note: The characters herein are used without permission of J

Obligatory Author's Note: The characters herein are used without permission of J. K. Rowling, author of the "Harry Potter" series. The author of this fan fiction piece acknowledge that he has no rights in the characters used herein and that the copyright and all intellectual property rights to such characters and the overall fantasy fiction world they inhabit belong solely to J. K. Rowling.

Penny Linsenmayer and Carole Estes, authors of "A Sirius Affair", wrote this note. I have asked Carole to use this, so I have her permission.

The magical world created in this fiction belongs to J. K. Rowling and some characters are her property except for any characters you do not recognize.

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Lusitania

BySirius White

** **

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

First Chapter 

The mystery of patrick

** **

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****"Okay, mum! Then I will do it"

"Do not forget to do it. It is really important, ok?"

"Artio, give me a kiss… I will only see you again at Christmas, girl!"

::: Shmack :::

"Yes! I can't believe it! I was so excited that I haven't thought of that! Oh mum! I don't think if I can survive there without you and dad…" 

"You will!"

The platform 4 and 5/7 was where the Lusitania Ship stopped and all members of the magical community that go to the academy had to get it.

Artio got onto the ship saying good-bye to her parents. She can't believe that she is going to the school, for the first time on her entire life! She was excited when her cousin, Carldonne, told her that he loved the school. He is one year older than she is and he thinks he will have to protect her at school.

Artio enters a room of the ship. She has chosen that room because of the name, written on a board, on the door: "Dolphin Room"… All the students go to one of the seven rooms on the ship. She passed all the others and checked the names. The first she found, at the beginning of the corridor, near the entrance of the ship, was the "Mermaid Room". After that, on the opposite side of the corridor, she read "Whale Room". She walked six or seven meters and saw the "Seagull Room". Then she read "Shark Room" and it gave her the creeps! 

"Oh my god!" she thought, "That is one room I'll never enter!"

She has gone through the corridor and checked the "Crab Room". After was the "Octopus Room". And finally, the "Dolphin Room", the one she has chosen to enter. She doesn't know why, but she hated the rooms where she passed and only liked that one…

So she entered the room and there is no one inside. She was scared… the other rooms had lots of people… why is no one there?

She started observing the room… there were lots of portraits on the walls. The biggest portrait is a man, an old man sleeping… he woke up and started dancing! Artio is not scared anymore! That was so fun! On the other wall there was a woman looking at Artio. On the opposite wall it had a fireplace, dark and dirty. Artio walked near the fireplace and saw that up to the fireplace there was a window. She tried to open the window but she failed. 

"What are you doing? No, the entrance is not there!" said a voice.

Artio looked all sides of the room and near the door was a girl. 

"What?" said Artio "Who are you?"

"Anaras, Anaras Tisanta. And you? What is your name?"

"M… me? Er… I… I am Artio, Artio Sperios… How do you know where the entrance is?"

"I am a Dolphin student! Last year I learned all about my House and about our rooms. But last year I did the same thing you did!"

"So where is it?"

"Let's go!" 

Anaras pushed a silver dolphin, which was on the fireplace and a door opened, on the portrait of that old man.

Anaras passed through the door and Artio did the same. Artio finally found lots of students that other room.

That room was so cool… all singing, dancing, talking! Anaras disappeared into that confusion and Artio was alone again.

"Hi" said a boy "Would you like to drink something?"

"Er… yes… er… okay"

"I am Patrick," said the boy "And you?"

"Artio"

"Cool name… first year here?"

"Yes… and you?"

"First too. But I know many things about this school… my brother is in the second year and he told me all he learned."

"How much time do we spend in the Ship? My parents didn't tell me anything."

:::"Why?"::: Artio thought to herself. 

"What? They haven't told you anything about the academy? I can't believe!"

"But is this fast? It takes only five or six hours, no?"

"Girl! Haven't they told you this too? It takes two days! And you have to sleep here!"

"Oh! I can't believe! How can I sleep in a ship??"

"Forget that for a moment… I will show you our room."

Patrick walked into the confusion and Artio followed him. They found two doors and Patrick explained that those were the dormitories.

"Enter and leave there your things," said Patrick "I am not allowed to enter there, I'll enter mine".

Artio entered her dormitory. The first room, where she was, had again lots of doors, each for each year on the academy. On the left, she read "First Years" and entered there. 

It had lots of beds: sixteen, as she counted.

She chose one of the beds and put her things near the bed.

Then she went out again and tried to find Patrick but he was not there anymore. 

Artio was confused… it seems that in that room all is mysterious: first, the first room without entrance to the other room, then she found Anaras and she disappeared and finally Patrick disappeared too.

Artio looked in front and saw lots of girls and boys, talking. But no one seemed to be in the first year! What should she do?

"Hey! Have you gone to the dormitories yet?"

That voice… Anaras!

"Where were you?" questioned Artio.

"Well, I was somewhere talking with my friends, dancing, singing, making fun… and you?

"I found a boy, Patrick and he was the one who told me that the dormitories were here"

Anaras suddenly looked scared.

"Patrick? Oh no! He is attacking again…"

"What???"

"…What has he told you?"

"Er… nothing special… he only told me where the dormitories were and…"

"And what?"

"…And he offered me a drink and…"

"Oh my god! Quickly! Follow me!"

Anaras entered the confusion again, followed by Artio. They found a man, an old man that Artio seemed to know… he was the man of the portrait!

"Captain Dolphin!" Anaras began.

"Yes" he replied.

"Artio found Patrick!"

"What? Patrick again?"

"Yes, captain. And he offered her a drink!"

"Why is this so dangerous? What has he done?" asked Artio, confused.

"Let's go! Anaras, you stay here and if he appears again, you will tell me, okay?"

"No problem, captain. Help Artio, please. I will take care of the room."

Captain Dolphin entered other room and then went to a corridor… Artio was more and more confused and she didn't know where she was and the last thing she saw was a corridor of lots of doors.

She fainted.

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Dear Readers,

This Fiction has a group of yahoo! Groups, totally dedicated to it.

Please, join and talk with other readers on the entire world! Visit:

[http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lusitania][1]

Regards,

Sirius White, [siriuswhite1@yahoo.com.br][2]

ICQ # 48306285, Yahoo! Messenger ID: siriuswhite1

   [1]: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lusitania
   [2]: mailto:siriuswhite1@yahoo.com.br



	2. Dear Artio

Obligatory Author's Note: The characters herein are used without permission of J

**Lusitania**

** **

Chapter Two – "Dear Artio"

Author: [Sirius White][1]

Author email: [siriuswhite@schnoogle.com][2]

Category: Romance/Adventure/Action/Mystery

Keywords: Artio Sperios, Patrick, Anaras, Captain Dolphin, Lusitania

Spoilers: All the four books and QTTA and FB.

Rating: PG

Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, as Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned 

by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Dedicated to my family and my country, Portugal.

*******************************

She fainted.

***

Artio woke up on the infirmary.

She opened her eyes and searched for Captain Dolphin, but he was not there. There was a nurse.

"Hi" she said "I'm Seitinn Shalbourn, the nurse of the Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft".

"What happened?" asked Artio.

"You fainted," said Madam Shalbourn "Captain Dolphin left you here last night".

"Where is he?"

"He has gone to search for Patrick".

"Who is Patrick? What has he done?"

"Artio, I think Captain Dolphin wouldn't like if I told you about Patrick. The Captain will tell you all you want to know, I'm sure. Now, you must have to sleep."

"I don't want to sleep. I want find Captain Dolphin!"

"Very well. I'll tell Captain you want to see him, but you stay here."

"Okay. Thanks."

Madam Shalbourn went out the infirmary and Artio saw a letter on a bed, near a window.

She went near the bed, where the letter was. She opened it and started reading:

_Dear Artio … _

But she couldn't read more because Madam Shalbourn and Captain Dolphin entered the infirmary.

Artio hided the letter on her cloak and feigned that she was looking out the window.

"Artio! What are you doing there?" Madam Shalbourn asked, nervously, and came near her.

"I was only looking out the window", Artio said.

"Oh girl! Do you think I will believe you? Outside it's only water and sea… tell me: what are you observing??"

Captain Dolphin saw Artio coming to bed, ashamed. He was there since the beginning but it seems he was not because he hasn't said anything.

Artio finally asked the Captain:

"Captain, what happened? Who is Patrick? What has he done? Why don't you like him?"

"Stay calm, Artio. I will tell you what you want to know, but only when you wake up again. Now you have to sleep."

"I don't want TO SLEEP!!!!!!" she shouted, "All people want me to do is sleep, but I don't want! I want to discover this mystery!"

"Artio" the Captain was calm, as ever, and Artio thought he always seemed calm… maybe he can't be angry… and he continued, "You need to sleep because you are very tired… I know you are very tired… so you don't want to tell me you are not, okay?"

"But I am not!" Artio said feeling tired, and the Captain laughed.

"I know you are, Artio and you will sleep, now, because you are veeeeeery tired" and Captain said those last words as a sleeping song… and the song worked: Artio fell asleep.

******

She was somewhere, in the middle of a big corridor, with a unique door at the end, facing Artio.

The door opened and Patrick came near her, saying, "Artio I love you. Come with me to my world."

She was confused. It seemed her life was confusion: since the beginning of the tour on that ship she was confused more times than all her entire life together!

When she is going to say "okay, I'll go with you…", Captain Dolphin entered the corridor and ran to Artio.

"Artio, no!" he said, with a nervous voice, and a calm expression, "Artio" he continued "don't go with him!"

"Why?" asked Artio.

"Go! Please, go with me if you love me" said Patrick.

"No!" Captain said.

"Yes!" Patrick said.

"Why?" asked Artio.

And she listened those words more and more times: "yes… no… why… yes… no… why… yes… no… …".

******

She woke up again. That was a dream. This time, Captain was sitting on a chair near her bed and when he noticed that she had woken up, he said "Hi."

"Who is Patrick?" asked Artio, for the million time.

"Okay, now I will tell you all you want to know…"

They were talking for two or three hours…

At the end, she knew many things about that confusion.

She knew that Patrick didn't exist.

Well, Patrick was an illusion. When a person feels alone and without friends, Patrick takes a human body and appears to the person. He tells that person all she wants to know about the place where she is and other useful things. At the beginning, this seems a very good thing, but it is not. Sometimes, he offers that person things (as he offered that drink to Artio), and that thing can cause secondary effects to the person, bad effects, which are made by dark spells. And even if he doesn't give anything to the person, the words he says will make that person sick and he can control them as if they were under the Imperius curse.

In conclusion: he is dangerous because when he helps a person, he can control her.

It was difficult for Captain Dolphin tell this to Artio because she likes Patrick very much.

When they finished talking, Artio remembered the letter she found on the bed and she couldn't decide if she should or not tell the Captain about it.

Captain told her "Artio, let's go to the common room. It will take only five or six hours until we arrive to the island where students can buy their school things. Let's go?"

"Okay" she said, "I will get dressed. Wait outside for me, please!"

Captain looked at her and laughed.

"Hahaha!! The girl who seemed to be a angel giving orders to her Captain! Hahaha!!" and went out.

Artio dressed quickly and when she was going out to join the Captain, she remembered the letter. She took it from her cloak and opened it again. Maybe now she finally could read it without interferences! And she started reading:

_Dear Artio … ___

But the Captain opened the door:

"Artio, let's go! You are dressed and we don't have much time to join the party on the common room!"

Artio hid the letter carefully in her dress… that was the second time she tried to read it, and the second time someone interfered!!

"Okay, Captain. Let's go." And she followed him to the common room, where the party still continued, without going to bed… they were few who slept that night…

Anaras came near Artio and asked her about what happened. Artio told Anaras what the Captain told her before, but she didn't say anything about the letter.

Anaras had gone and Artio entered the dormitories, where she would finally read the letter.

She sat on her bed, where she should have slept last night, if Patrick hadn't appeared…

She took the letter, opened it and read _Dear Artio, when a girl entered the dormitory:_

"Sorry… I came here looking for my cat… have you seen it?"

Artio hid the letter one more time and asked what the cat looked like.

"Er… he is black, with green eyes… I don't know what else to say…"

"Is it big or small?"

"Small, it is only two months old…"

"No, I haven't seen it… sorry…" 

"Okay… Thanks", and the girl went out.

Artio continued reading the letter, finally.

_ _

_Dear Artio,_

_I was in the infirmary with you, but you were sleeping when I left. Captain Dolphin took me yesterday to the infirmary because I could be sick or under a curse… you know…and he told me also what Patrick has done, well, what I have done…Sorry …I was Patrick yesterday. My body was the one he took. I would like to meet you personally. Send me Strimmy saying where you can meet me and when. I know it is not an owl, but it is very intelligent and I know it will give me the letter.___

_Waiting for Strimmy. _

_Kisses,_

_Jeremy (Patrick's body…)_

Artio read the letter three times and finally understood what she had to do: send a letter by _Strimmy…_

But she didn't know at the moment what _Strimmy was…Well, was not an owl because Patrick, well, Jeremy had written that he knew __Strimmy was not an owl… Maybe… a dog… or a mouse… it could also be a toad… and… (How could she be so stupid?) A __cat!! __Strimmy was a cat…the cat the girl was looking for!!!_

Artio ran out the dormitory. She had to find that girl!****

***

[http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lusitania][3]

[http://www.astronomytower.org/AuthorLinks/sirius_white/][4]

Post reviews at: [http://pub39.ezboard.com/ffictionalleyfrm139][5]

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   [2]: mailto:siriuswhite@schnoogle.com
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	3. The Date

Lusitania

****

Chapter Three – The Date 

Author: Sirius White

Author email: siriuswhite@schnoogle.com

Category: Romance/Adventure/Action/Mystery

Keywords: Artio Sperios, Patrick, Anaras, Captain Dolphin, Lusitania

Spoilers: All the four books and QTTA and FB.

Rating: PG

Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, as Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned 

By JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Dedicated to my family and my country, Portugal.

*******************************

Artio ran out of the dormitory. She had to find that girl!

********

While searching for the girl she had met, Artio entered the confusion of the stateroom and didn't notice that Captain Dolphin was on stage with three more people. She only noticed because a boy tapped her on the shoulder and told her to pay attention. When she looked up at the stage she saw Captain Dolphin with a woman, a girl and a boy.  She stopped and listened.

"All our dear students" he began, "here we are for a new school year! I am very proud of you all. Time passes so fast! I don't want to remember how many years have passed since my first year as a professor!" The whole room laughed at his statement. "It is true… But you are young, so you shouldn't care about this… I have to tell you some things you need to know. First of all, it's important for you all to get good marks in your courses. Some of you will be graduating this year.  I want to let you know how proud I am of those who graduated last year and to tell you that they all have a job today! They got it because they studied hard, so I hope you all follow them! I also want to alert you about some things you have to know" he paused. Some of the students started talking about last year, saying "Oh my! How many years do we have to hear the same speech?"…

Artio remembered what she was doing and started to walk again when she heard someone saying, "Please stay where you are!"

She looked around, wondering who had spoken and noticed it was Captain Dolphin. "Stay there," he said. He seemed to know Artio was going to leave. "Because I have to important things to say that you need to hear!! Very well! So on to the first adviser…"He turned to the others on the stage.

"First years are not allowed to have a broom," said a fourth year boy in perfect unison with the voice on the stage.  He had heard the same thing all four years he had been there…

"Second," Captain Dolphin continued, "all classes are compulsory.  You have no choice in the matter.  Third… we'll be stopping in five or six hours at the first island to buy some supplies.  At that time you will form into groups of ten students with one professor leading each group, okay?"

The fourth year boy was saying exactly the same thing as the Captain! He knew the whole speech, word for word.

"… Fifth and most important!"

The boy, who was echoing everything the Captain said, exclaimed, "What?!? That is not right! You are wrong, that's not the next sentence!" and Artio and others had to laugh. How could they not laugh with him at the situation?!

The Captain continued, "The most important!…" He stopped and seemed to think about it, Er… no, never mind, I will tell you when we finish buying supplies on the next island! Now, let's eat, I am hungry…"

Artio hadn't noticed that on the other side of the room there was food, drinks and many other things. She made her way there, realizing for the first time how hungry she was… Anaras was off with a group of friends… Artio noticed she hadn't formed any strong friendships as it wasn't something she could ever do easily… So far there was only Anaras and Patrick, who didn't even exist… She supposed Carldonne could also be seen as friend but she didn't like him very much, even if he was her cousin and a fellow student at the school. Artio pondered it as she stood eating bread with an interesting but tasty kind of meat she'd never had before.  What house was Carldonne in? She didn't remember… had he ever told her?…

Suddenly she remembered she had been trying to find the girl who owned the cat and looked around the room for her but as she couldn't see her, was forced to enter the confusion to continue her search.

It took Artio fifteen minutes before she finally saw her. 

Artio asked the girl if she had already found the cat. 

"Yes… he is sleeping on my bed, in the dormitories. Thanks for asking!"

"Er… can I see him? I love cats!"

"Sure. Let's go. I will see you later, Ariane." she told the other girl she had been talking to.

"I haven't introduced myself yet" Artio began "I'm Artio, Artio Sperios"

"Oh cool name. Very unusual… I am Cynthia Tropelt. Glad to meet you"

"How long have you had your cat?"

"He was a gift from my parents after I received the invitation to the academy…"

"How old is he?"

"Two months old… well I should explain that I didn't get him as a present… I received his mother. Two weeks later he was born in my house…"

Artio doubted the cat could be as intelligent as Patrick, well Jeremy, wrote...

They entered the dormitories and found, lying on a bed that was likely Cynthia's, a small black cat, sleeping. 

"Here he is."

"Can I touch him?"

"Sure!"

Artio stroked the cat and he woke up. He mewed and suddenly a big black cat jumped to the bed. 

"Oh this is Chintz, his mother."

Artio noticed three more little cats beneath the bed. She understood they were his siblings… 

"What are their names?"

"Well, the mother is Chintz, but the kittens don't have names yet."

"No???"

"No. I haven't chosen the names yet. Why? Should I?"

"Er… no, I mean yes… you should so they can hear and learn the sound of their names so they'll come to you easily… but that's not why. Sorry. Forget this okay? I have to go. Sorry…"

Artio turned to escape but Cynthia didn't let her go.

"Artio, wait! Why are you so strange? Now you've started telling me, you have to finish. Tell me!"

"Okay. Someone told me your cat was called _Strimmy and I would need the help of __Strimmy to do something. Now can I go?"_

"No. You have to give me a better explanation than that. I don't understand. Who told you?"

Artio was forced to tell Cynthia everything and related her story, starting at the beginning and including the letter thing. Cynthia was  thrilled by what she heard.

"And you thought _Strimmy could be my cat right?" She asked when Artio finished._

"Yes. Now I don't know what to do… I don't know who _Strimmy is; I don't know how to meet Jeremy, I don't know anything!" she cried._

"Oh Artio! Don't be sad. I'll try to help you. We'll ask other people about _Strimmy but please don't cry, okay?"_

"Really? You'll help me?" Artio was surprised.

"Yes. But stop crying please" Cynthia hugged her.

They went out trying to find someone who might know something about _Strimmy, but they had no success._

Two hours later, back in the stateroom, they heard Captain Dolphin again, on the stage.

"Dear students! Now we are going to stop at this island and buy some supplies. You know the drill. Each group of ten students will go with one professor. Please form your groups now"

Cynthia and Artio looked  at one another and decided they would stay together in the same group, with eight more students and one professor…

Other students joined them and quickly there were ten of them. Captain said "Will the groups that are already formed please come here"

They came. Artio and Cynthia didn't know all the people in their group. They knew Ariane, and the nameless boy (who had told Artio Captain Dolphin was talking, a few hours earlier) the other six people were total strangers.

A woman came to join them and introduced herself, "Hi. I am Professor Shayra Stormd'sky and this group is with me when we disembark, ok?"

Artio remembered her face from somewhere. She had been on the stage, with Captain Dolphin when he talked about the rules. She was also the woman in the portrait Artio had been looking at when Anaras appeared…

"Now, let's go. Follow me."

"Cynthia!" Artio said.

"Yes?"

"This woman. There was a portrait of her in the stateroom. Do you know her?"

"Er… she was with Captain Dolphin on the stage and in a portrait. I have also seen her portrait. And there was a portrait of the Captain too. Maybe she is his wife"

"Do you think? Hmm… she isn't called Dolphin…"

"You are right. So maybe she isn't his wife. Forget that!"

They followed Professor Stormd'sky and she stopped in the corridor-- the corridor that had the seven doors for the seven houses. Up above the entry they could read "Exit. Only one group of ten and one professor at any time in the corridor please." Artio watched as the letters moved and drifted to the walls.

"On this island we will buy clothes and hats, that sort of thing. We will stop at other islands to buy other things, but I will give you each a complete list of things you have to buy now." she handed out parchments, rolled up and tied with blue ribbon, to the students.

She walked along the corridor and stepped through the exit.

Artio read her parchment. Painted on it was the symbol of each house, as a vertex of a regular heptagon and in the middle a big symbol of the academy.

****

_"Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft"_

First Year 

_Personalized list – Sperios, Artio_

_Livery _

_*     Five black work cloaks_

_*     A witches hat, thirty-seven cm high_

_*      Protective gloves, Dragon Skin (Two pairs)_

_*     A ball dress, any color except gray  (can be a family heirloom)._

o _Note that all clothes should be labeled with the name of their owner. _

Other Equipment 

_*      __Wand___

_*      Cauldron (Cadmium, size Three)_

_*     A crystal or glass set of bottles_

_*      Telescope_

_*      Wolfram set_

_*     Pet_

__

_Obligatory Study Books _

_*      "Behind The Sky, Complete Astronomy Guide(First Grade)",by Weldan, Silister_

_*      "Talking About Beasts (First Grade)", by Scamander, Newt_

_*      "__One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi", by Spore, Phyllida___

_*      __"Transfiguration – How to Turn Mice in snares", by Whiskers, Romeo___

_*__    "The History of Magic", by Australopithecus, Wilda___

_*      __"The Dark Arts – A Superficial Vision", by Nester, Relik___

_*     "Basic Sorceries" by Zephrinn, Wilhelm_

_*      "Theoretical Magic Versus Practice Magic", by Eleph, Justicin_

_*      __"Magical Drafts and Potions__", by Jigger, Arsenius_

o _Note: Books stated by author. Please notice its traducers. ___

Other books you should read *      "Quidditch Through The Ages" by Whisp, Kennilworthy 

_*      __"Lusitania – Since Ever" by various authors_

_*      __"Lonedart's Diary" by Lonedart, Eleniod_

_*      "The Merlin Order" by Merlin_

_*** First years are not allowed to have a broom._

_**** All first year students will take nine classes: Astronomy, Transfiguration, Flying, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Charms, History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures._

****__

Artio read over the list, her eyes widening as she saw how many things she had to buy…

Cynthia looked at her and smiled.

They were on dry land again and were going to buy things. Artio read "Ilha de S. Miguel – Açores".

 [It could be translated as "Saint Michael Island – Azores", in English. (Author's note).]

They were in the Azores! Artio heard the islands were beautiful but had never been there before. The island was really beautiful: Green meadows, lots of cattle, some lakes and small towns.

They wouldn't go to Muggle towns of course. They would buy stuff at local wizarding shops. 

They walked for a bit and entered a cavern where Professor Stormd'sky told them to touch the stalactite twenty seventh (counting from) the entrance… it was the portkey for the Wizarding town, Laxus _(A note: Laxus means wide, in Latin)._

Laxus was a small city, one of the four magical communities on the Azores archipelago of nine islands.

Laxus was a typical magical community, with lots of clothes shops and a population of around three hundred and fifty people as Professor Stormd'sky told them.

The portkey led them to the Shops zone. Professor Stormd'sky told them they could buy their clothes in any shop and reminded them they had to meet back here in an hour to return to the ship. 

Artio and Cynthia chose a simple little old shop. They didn't choose to buy their stuff there because of its appearance but only because the witch (owner) who was at the entrance seemed to be very funny.

They entered and the witch didn't ask any questions. She started measuring them, ever joking.

"So you are new here. What house are you in?"

"Er," Cynthia began, "we are Dolphins"

"Oh! What a relief! I thought you were in Octopus House!" She  grinned and continued, "Octopus students are so stupid! Well, if they are in the Octopus house I guess it's for a reason!" She grinned again. "There's a stupid house in all Magic schools or academies… maybe they are needed for something. I even heard "everyone and everything has a role to play in the world" so if they exist they have a role to play too. My only question is, what role? This is what I have never understood!"

Two tape measures were measuring Artio and Cynthia, quickly, as two quills were writing the numbers down on two different parchments.

"Very well. Let's stop talking and let's get to work. Measurements!" and the papers came to her hand "hum… Cloaks number 7 and 7/11 to Miss… what is your name darling?" she asked Cynthia.

"Cynthia Tropelt." she replied.

"… Miss Tropelt. Here are your five cloaks. Cloaks number 6 and 22/53 to Miss…?"

"Artio Sperios."

"…To Miss Sperios, here they are. Now the hats" the tape measure measured their heads in all ways and possible sizes, the papers went to the witch's hand and she quickly took two hats from the shelf, that seemed to be equals but were not "To Miss Tropelt, hat number 1343 that will be number 2784 on the Mikenzpiz's scale. For Miss Sperios, I reserved a 1298 hat, 2739 in the Mikenzpiz's scale. Here they are!"

"Gloves! My favorite finery! But yours must be of dragon skin. If they were not we would certainly pass the next three hours and twenty seven minutes choosing a pair!" She grinned, as usual.

Two boys entered the shop. They were there to buy their stuff, just like Artio and Cynthia.

"Good Afternoon! Are you busy or can I buy my stuff here?"

"Sure! So you are a joker too! My kind of people!"

One of the boys was talking with Cynthia about the things that were in the shop window. The other took his wand out and moved it. Artio was looking at the witch's forehead and the boy was also pointing at his forehead, smiling.

The witch noticed the looks on their faces and asked, "What's the matter? Do I have something written on my forehead?"

Artio and the boy grinned for a long time! That was exactly it. The boy had made letters pass across the woman's forehead so Artio could read it. Only she could see it because Cynthia was looking at the shop window and the woman couldn't see or feel anything on her brow.

On the witch's forehead the boy had written, "Please come outside the shop. I want to talk with you. This is fun! Let's go."

When Artio finished grinning she went outside, simply saying "I've got to step out and get some fresh air!" The boy said he would join her too.

When they were outside, Artio told the boy, "You're the best! How did you do that?"

"It's simple, I learned it from a little wizards book when I was eight…"

"So what do you want to tell me?"

"I am a bit angry. Why didn't you send me _Strimmy?"_

"What? Are you Patr… Jeremy?

"Yes, in the flesh!"

"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't find_ Strimmy!"_

"I can't believe it! He was with the other girl? Oh my! He never changes!! Grrr!"

"I am really sorry"

"No, no problem. We met even without his help. It was destiny. We had to meet today and so destiny drove me to the shop where you were!" Artio studied his features closely as he spoke.

"But you are Patrick, I mean, your face is the same"

"Yes. He was in my body, but it was my face, it was my eyes, it was I. It didn't change anything on my appearance!"

"Now I understand! And…" 

Artio didn't know how or why, but they kissed one another and she wanted to stay that way forever…

*******************************

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	4. The Beggining of the End

**Author****:** Sirius White

**Author email****:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com

**Category****:** Romance/Adventure/Action/Mystery

**Keywords****:** Artio Sperios, Patrick, Anaras, Captain Dolphin, Lusitania

**Spoilers****:** All the four books and QTTA and FB.

**Rating****:** PG

**Summary****:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, as Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

**Disclaimer****:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned By JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note****:** Dedicated to all "kinds" of Love. Thanks to Jo, for the beta reader work.

****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****

Lusitania 

BY    S I R I U S   W H I T E

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

FOURTH CHAPTER 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Artio didn't know how or why, but they kissed one another and she wanted to stay that way forever…

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

But she cwouldn't.

"What now?" asked Jeremy.

"What _now_?" she repeated.

"Us. Are you my girlfriend?"

"I don't know. Let's go inside the shop. Don't talk about us inside, okay?"

"Okay. But I love you"

Artio entered the shop and Jeremy followed her.
    
    "Oh, here they are!" said the witch who owned the shop.

"Where were you?" asked Cynthia.

"Um... we were talking, I just wanted to get some fresh air..."

"Yes, that's it," said Jeremy.

""I have bought all of our things," informed Cynthia.

"Okay. How much is it?" 

"Two galleons, five sickles and thirteen knuts" said the owner of the shop.

Artio took the money from her bag and paid the bill. Cynthia took their clothes. "Thanks!"  

"Oh, you're welcome! See you next year!"
    
    Artio bid her farewell and prepared to join Cynthia, who was already waiting outside.
    
    She looked at Jeremy, who was looking at her as well. "See you on the Ship" he said. 
    
    "Okay, see you there" she answered, and went to join Cynthia while the shop owner began attending to Jeremy's list.
    
    As time flewied by, they realized they didn't have much time to go to the cave and go back to the Ship. 

"What were you talking about? You didn't tell me there, but I know it was some important thing. I know you!"

"I can't feign lie to you. He is Jeremy"

"What?? _The_ Jeremy? That Jeremy you were trying to find with _Strimmy?"_
    
    "Yes" Artio told Cynthia how he wrote on the witch's forehead, and she laughed.

"And we kissed."
    
    Cynthia stopped laughing and came to a halt as her eyes widened "Hum? What? You what?"__
    
    "We kissed. I don't know how, or why, but we did"

They started walking again.
    
    "I can't believe it! I admit he's handsome, but you have only met him today! But then, I really have no right to criticize your actionss." 
    
    "Well, actually, I'm not too pleased about it, either... but what's done is done. When Patrick talked to me, it was with Jeremy's body, so today I felt as if I knew him for a long time. But the rest... oh, all I know is that when we kissed, I wanted to just stay like that forever..." she grinned.
    
    "Hmm. I don't have experience with kissing boys, but I reckon if that's how you felt, it must've been quite good."
    
    "He told me he loves me! But I was so stupid! I just stood there and didn't say anything! Then, he asked me if I'm his girlfriend".

"And?"
    
    "I told him I didn't know... oh gods, I was so stupid! I told him he shouldn't talk about it in the shop... What do you think?"
    
    "Artio, I have already told you that I have no right to criticize you... you just followed your instincts. Anyway, there are of course two points of view to it; some would say it's alright, but then, kissing about five minutes after you met him... even if Patrick did use his body to speak to you. What does it matter, anyway, what other people think, as long as _you_ feel you have done the right thing? Either way, I'm here for you."
    
    "Thank you. I do feel I have done the right thing. I just feel stupid because Jeremy told me he loves me and I didn't say anything to him." 

"Do you?"

"Sure I do! Oh Cynthia, I really love him. Do you think I am too young to have a relationship like this?"

"Like this? Do you have a relationship?"

"Er... no, but we love each other"

"No, I don't think you are too young... things happen when they happen..."

They arrived to the cavern where Professor Stormd'sky and the other students were waiting. 

"Girls! What took you so long? We've been waiting for centuries!"

"Sorry" they said.

"Come on! Touch in the stalactite so you can exit from Laxus"

Students passed to the other side one by one, and then entered the Ship.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Artio and Cynthia lay down on their beds, tired.

Chintz jumped to the bed and two kitties followed her.

"Artio I think she's hungry. I'll feed her so she can breast-feed the little ones. I'll be right back"

"Okay, go feed them"
    
    Cynthia left and Artio stayed in her bed, slowly falling into deep, dreamless sleep.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Several rooms away from the dormitories Captain Dolphin was reading a letter, seated on his comfortable armchair, while a gray owl that had carried it was pecking a copy of _"Lusitania: Since Ever"_.

Captain Dolphin finished reading the letter and noticed what the owl was doing. "Shoo! Get out of here! Don't spoil that book! Shoo! Stupid owl!"
    
    The owl flew to the window and stayed there, waiting for Captain's response to the letter that it had been ordered to return with.

_"The thing that couldn't happen happened… Our freedom is lost now…" _thought Captain, but he wrote other things:

Dear Mr. Sperios 
    
    _I will do what you ask of me. She will be there in three days time as we are near the Academy, and the location is quite far away._

_Regards,_

_Captain Dolphin_

Dolphin House 

_Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft_

"Come here, stupid owl!" he called 

The owl came near him and stretched its leg so Captain Dolphin could put the letter. Then it flew, passed the window and Captain Dolphin followed it with his eyes until it completely disappeared on the blue color of the Atlantic Ocean.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Captain Dolphin touched Artio.

"Artio, wake up"

"Hum?" Artio said, yawning, "Is it lunch time, Cynthia?"

"It's not Cynthia, It's Captain Dolphin."

Artio sat up in the bed quickly "sorry, captain…"
    
    "You needn't apologize. Artio, I have news for you."

"What happened? Is Jeremy all right? Cynthia?"

"They areThey're fine. They aren't 're not the problem …"

"So?"

"Your parents."

"What happened? Are they fine?"
    
    "Physically, they are fine. However... Artio, I don't know how to tell you this… They… They divorced"

"They div… they divorced?? But how? They loved each other so much!"

"It seemed they loved each other."

"Seemed? How could they feign lie to me?" Artio cried.
    
    Captain hugged Artio "Do feel free to cry, if it'll make you feel better." he said.

"Captain how shawill I live now?!"
    
    "You shawill. I know this hurts, but try to understand them. They no longer love each other, why would they continue living together? It is better for them."

"I don't know… What should I do? What _can_ I do?"
    
    "You have to keep living your own life. Even though they are no longer married, they both love you just the same as they did when they were together. You must love them the same way in return."

"I can't! They lay lied to me"
    
    "You'll just have to try… Artio, there's another thing I must bring to your attention."

"More??"
    
    "Yes. Now, please let me finish before you make any comments, alright? Your father sent me an owl. He wants you to come live with him."

"I don't want to! I won't go!"

"Listen to me. You are going to live with him in England; he was invited to work on a cultural Organization in London"

"But I don't want to live with him! What about my mother?"

"She lives in Portugal, your house belongs to her and you can visit her when you want, on holiday"

"My brother?"

"He knows about everything. The divorce process started one year ago and he knew it, but your parents told him to not tell you anything."
    
    "What?? He knew?? And he didn't tell me?!"
    
    "Artio, he wanted to tell you but your parents didn't let him."
    
    "So many things are starting to clear up now... Mother left home because of that. I remember him saying, "_I hope you reconsider. It is also Artio's life, not only mine. Let me know how she is at least every week_". Now I understand…"
    
    _Knock, Knock!_
    
     There was a knock at the door.

"Yes?"

Professor Shayra Stormd'sky entered the room.
    
    "Ms. Sperios, your cousin wants to talk to you. If you would please follow me-"
    
    "I don't want to talk to him. I seriously doubt he has anything to tell me I don't know already. He just wants to sour my mood further!"

"Artio, go there… Professor Shayra, can you let us alone?"

"Sure" Professor Stormd'sky went out.

"Artio remember what I told you. Live your own life. Try to be happy. But you have to listen to others' opinions. Even if they tell you bad things you have to hear them. Behind the words people have feelings. Hear the feelings. They are more valorous than words. Ignore the bad moments remember the best ones"

"Do you think I should go talking with and talk to Carldonne?"

"I will only tell you one more thing: sometimes people don't mean what they say; other times people don't say what they felel… Listen to the feelings"

"I think I understoodunderstand. Thanks"

Artio went out of the dormitories. She exited the Dolphin's' Common Room because non-Dolphin students couldn't enter the other Houses, as Dolphins couldn't enter other House than the Dolphin's'.

Carldonne was waiting for her in the main corridor.

"I don't know if I should say "Hi!" but I think not I won't."

"Why not?" Artio replied, remembering what Captain Dolphin hads said. "Hello Carldonne! How are you?"

"Aren't you angry?"

"Sure I am. So you know about all too?"

"Yes, from the begingning… I listened to my parents talking about it, but they didn't know I knew"

"So are you going to hurt me more?" 

Artio's opinion about on her cousin was not that good… He had ever jokedalways teased her at her, in the bad moments at bad times. She thought he had no feelings, and as he has gone to the Shark House, it was the proveof that was in faulthe had none..

"No, I won't. I know, well I imagine how you are feeling."

"Hmmm… today is one of those days that you seem to agree with me? And also those days when after the "sentimental cousin" comes the worst joke on me, right?"

"Artio, I know I have been wrong with you. I'm really sorry. But I am not here to hurt you more that you are. I have changed"

"How is it possible? A person like you does never changes! Even living ion another planet!"

"Artio don't be sad. If you accept my apologies that's all right; if you don't what can I do? Nothing. I am here to tell you that I will help you if you let me. I know you are in a bad situation and I am trying to comfort you. That's just thisIt's just that…"

"Did you endHave you finished?"

"No. One more thing: I will be there every time you want me. If you ask me I will help you, even in one thousand years. If I am alive in one thousand years, be sure that I will help you"

"So did you really change?" Artio began believing in Carldonne.

"What have I told you?"

"I believe in you now…"

They hugged each other.

"I am always where you wantthere if you need me. Count on me!"

"I will"

"Promise me that you will send me owls at least two times per week."

"Okay. Carldonne I can't believe you really changed. How did you?"

"I… I found a person that showed me the world is as good for those who practice Good, and as evil for who practice Evil, even now evennow and in the future. Each person has what does, early or lately but has gets back what they give, whether it is was long ago or more recent."

"I agree. Who is that person?"

"I… she is… my girlfriend"

"Oh! Now I understand everything!" and Artio laughed.

"Me too!" he said, and laughed with her.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Back Iin the dormitories again, Artio told Cynthia about everything.

"He is not that bad" Artio commented about Carldonne.

"Yes… But when do you go?"

"In one hour, I think. Captain Dolphin will call me"

"Artio, will we be friends forever?"

"Sure yes"

"You have to send me owls too, as to Carldonne"

"Affirmative, sir! Hehehe… I only don't know how it will be in England… my father has a new job and I think other way about him. I don't know if I will be fine there…"

"Oh, will you go to school there?"

"Yes, I will go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"

"There you will find new friends and you will forgetive us here…"

"I won't ever forget you. We will see ever holidays"

"I hope so! What about Him?"

"Who's Him?"

"Jeremy"

"He… he doesn't know about anything. But I have no time to tell him. You'll have to do it for me. Can you?"

"What if you write a letter?"

"No. I think it's better you tell everything to him. You must have to say that I love him too, because I haven't didn't said anything in Laxus"

"Okay"

Captain Dolphin knocked the door and entered.

"Artio, time to go"

"How will I go? In a Ship?"

"No, you will go with my friend Gilbert, he has a dragon as "pet" and you will go flying on it"

"Isn't it dangerous?"

"A bit… hmmm… lets see: you have a ninety-nine percent of probabilitiesy of  to arriveing in England alive… You will dead if the Dragon dies too… Hehehe. Sure it is safve, do you think I would let you go if it wasn't safve?"

"Okay. When I write, Cynthia will let you know how I am… it is has been a privilege to know you, Captain Dolphin!"

"So I say, and you don't know how!"

**

Artio was sat in a chair, inside a big wood hut that was pushed by the dragon, with Gilbert. They were going away. London was the arriving "airport".

At the door of the Lusitania Ship there were Carldonne, Cynthia and Captain Dolphin nodding. 

Artio was going up faster and only she (higher than they) could see the sunset…

If Carldonne and Cynthia hadn't been so excited, they would have heard Captain Dolphin:

"Now I'm sure the world will End. And _this_ is just the Beginning"

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

****

http://www.astronomytower.org/AuthorLinks/Sirius_White/

Join us at: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lusitania

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******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******


	5. Dark Times

**Author****:** Sirius White

**Author email****:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com

**Category****:** Romance/Adventure/Action/Mystery

**Keywords****:** Artio Sperios, Patrick, Anaras, Captain Dolphin, Lusitania

**Spoilers****:** All the four books and QTTA and FB.

**Rating****:** PG

**Summary****:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

**Disclaimer****:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned By JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note****:** Dedicated to my readers. Thanks Jo, for the beta reader work.

****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****

Lusitania 

BY    S I R I U S   W H I T E

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

FIFTH CHAPTER 

DARK TIMES 

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

If Carldonne and Cynthia hadn't been so excited, they would have heard Captain Dolphin:

"Now I'm sure the world will End. And _this_ is just the Beginning"

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

"Are you afraid?" Gilbert asked Artio.

"Me? No! Captain Dolphin told me this was safe, so I'm not afraid…" Artio replied.

"So we can fly faster," as he whipped the dragon the velocity increased, and Artio started to be afraid "Are you sure you aren't afraid?" asked Gilbert again, seeing that she did feel afraid.

"No, well I feel afraid a bit, but I can stand it" Artio said, and changed the subject "What's the dragon's name?"

"Shilta, she is a female dragon…"

"Does she obey you?" Artio asked, doubting.

"Sometimes, except when she wants to be with male dragons… You seem to confide in Captain Dolphin, don't you?"

"Yes," she agreed, "he explained me why my parents divorced, and about Jer… Patrick, he explained me many things and he is very important for me… I really don't know why does he treat me with a special manner, but maybe is because that Patrick thing…"

"Robin is ever the same, he never loses an opportunity…"

"Who?" Artio asked, "Who's Robin?"

"Oh, I forgot he never says his real name… Captain Dolphin is a good nickname to a person like him, he needs one in fact."

"Captain Dolphin is Robin?" she asked, confused.

"Robin Stormd'sky" Gilbert said "mostly known as Captain Dolphin, Hahaha!" he laughed.

"Stormd'sky? Professor Shayra is his wife?"

"Sister" Gilbert corrected "Robin and Shayra also have another brother but he was expelled from the academy in his last year…"

"Why?" Artio asked, interested.

"He was trapped… Lungush forced him to steal a thing from the academy and Josh Darkwater saw him, and denounced him to Robin and Shayra, who were already professors there… but that's another story."

"Who are Lungush and Josh Darkwater?" she asked, confused one more time.

"Josh was his best friend, before trapping him, Lungush is a powerful Death Eater that dreams to be the Dark Master, after killing You-Know-Who…"

"Are still Death Eaters here?"

"Unfortunately, yes" Gilbert said, "Lungush is the Left Arm of the dark lord. He would be the Right one, if there wasn't Malfoy… Josh were Lungush's friend… now he isn't: he has all he wanted, Professor and Head of House in Lusitania"

"What house?" Artio asked.

"What do you think?"

"Shark."

"Sure," agreed Gilbert.

"And where's Captain Dolphin's and Professor Shayra's brother now?" 

"At the moment he is flying, sitting, talking to you."

"Are you their expelled brother?" she asked.

"Is someone else talking to you now?" he added, "Gilbert Stormd'sky, pleased to meet you."

"I can't believe it! They expelled you? Why didn't you tell them what really happened?"

"I tried… Robin gives me some things to do, like this, to carry you to London, and I have my own job…" Gilbert explained.

"What do you do?"

"Dragons… I love Dragons."

"I see…"

"Please" he said "don't tell anyone about what you heard… that's only for your own knowledge."

"Okay," She agreed.

"Now try to sleep," he recommended, "It is a small seat but I think you will be able to sleep on it."

"I'll try. Good night." Artio made herself comfortable and closed her eyes.

"Good night, it is really a good night" Gilbert said, looking for sky, where lots of stars were coloring the night.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

When Artio woke up they were still over flying the blue Atlantic Ocean.

"Good morning" she said.

Gilbert turned his head "Good morning, I thought you would sleep until 10 am at least…"

"What time is it?"

"Half past eight, did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, I didn't have nightmares…"

"I am going to leave you in Land's End, then you'll go with your father."

"Where's Land's End?"

"England…" Gilbert took out a map and showed her where it was.

"Okay" she said "Even though I don't the idea of living with my father…"

"I don't have anything to do with that, unfortunately. So do you go to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Captain D… your brother told me my father wants me to go there."

"I would have liked to go to Hogwarts if I hadn't been expelled from Lusitania"

"I would like to stay in the Lusitania academy…" they laughed.

"No one does what they really want to do," Gilbert said.

"That's true," she agreed.

Two hours later, she was at Land's End. Gilbert was gone and her father came, driving a Muggle car.

"Artio, you finally arrived!" he said, coming near her.

"Yes" she said, as she was hugged by him "finally."

"I'm sorry for all" he began.

"Don't matter… it is done now," she was trying not to talk much with him, "Let's go?"

"Yes, let's go," they got into the car and Artio was driven to a small apartment in London, to which she taken to after lunch.

"This will be our home during the next few months," he informed, opening a door which let Artio see a small bedroom, even smaller than Gilbert's dragon cage,  "here is your bedroom, do you like it?"

"It's nice," she commented, wanting to be alone.

"Leave your things and then come to the living-room." He said, and went out of the bedroom.

Artio slowly left her things, as she was looking at the walls, colored with soft rose; there was a small bed with a rose bedspread, a wooden wardrobe, a lamp, and a rug between the bed and the wardrobe colored with soft blue and rose. There was also a window. Artio walked over to it. She noticed she was in a Muggle area. She didn't understand why, and thought she would ask his father about that, but she saw outside lots of Muggle cars, which she didn't see everyday… she kept looking and forgot the time, passing more than fifteen minutes in her bedroom, and when she remembered she started walking to the living-room, as her father asked her to, passing  an old portrait, well cleaned, in which there was a woman, but she took a quick look and went to talk with her father.

Archibald Sperios had been sitting in the living room for a while, when a tall girl, with fair hair and pale skin stared from the door.

"May I come in, dad?" Artio asked, but entered and sat on the sofa without waiting her father's response, "Dad, I noticed we are living in a Muggle community. Can you explain to me why?"

"Well, we haven't had time to talk. I am writing for a Cultural Organization, here in London, and I was told to make a study about Muggles. The best place to do it is living with them."

"Okay, I understand… as I think I won't live here the most part of the year, right?"

"Yes, you'll go to Hogwarts. I was there when I had to write that article about European Wizarding Schools," informed the journalist side of Mr. Sperios, "and as I was invited to work here in London, it'd be the best. The school seemed to be safe, you know that You-know-who fears the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."

"Yes, I know, he's the one who You-know-who fears… But I'd prefer to be in Lusitania."

"Artio, I know it's difficult to understand, but please do it for me."

"What can I tell you? I _have_ to live with you right? I don't have enough money to run away so I have to be here, I have to do all things you want me to do. And this is your entire fault! I wouldn't have liked to ask this, but I have been forced to. Why did you break up with Mum?" Artio asked, exploding.

"Artio, we didn't love each other any more, we had to divorce. It would be worse if we stayed together as if nothing had happened." he replied, calmly.

"Yes, and the one who stews in the juices of your acts is me!" 

"I wouldn't like you to suffer, but think of the problem from another angle. Try to understand, it would be worst if I stayed the-" he was interrupted.

"Is it better this way? At least for me? Don't you understand I am tired of hearing that? You only think only yourselves care! I came here wanting not to discuss this with you," she informed him, "but I couldn't stay here as if nothing happened!"

"Artio I also wouldn't like to tell this to you," Archibald was starting to get angry "It was your mother who broke up with me!" he stood up and walked to his bedroom.

Artio couldn't believe it was her mother who asked him to divorce; she always thought it was her father's fault. Her eyes, whose colour was a color between soft blue and soft green, filled up instantly. Tears fell down her face touching her nose and her lips, with the flavoring of a special kind of salt, and didn't stop in her chin…

She stayed there sat in the sofa, without feeling anything physically, but feeling badly inside her heart. She wanted to die, no she didn't: she remembered Captain Dolphin words _"live your own life"_, and woke up for that awake sleep.

She went to the door of her father's bedroom. She hesitated to knock at the door, but finally made her hand into a fist, and knocked at the door. "May I come in?" As she didn't get an answer, opened the door slowly. Her father was lying down on his bed.

"I'm sorry" Artio began "I didn't kno-"

"Now you do" he seemed to be angry.

"Yes. Father, I'm sorry, I hadn't ever thought that it was Mum who ended your marriage. I'm sorry."

He sat on the bed "you got her eyes" he said, looking into Artio's eyes "and you needn't cry."

"Dad, I… I want to forget these things, what matters is that I'm living here, with you, and we'll have fun together."

"I'm proud of you because you understand, although it can't just be _forgotten_."

"I know" Artio said, "but I won't discuss with you any more about that".

"Shall we go for a walk?" Archibald asked.

"Okay, let me just write a quick letter to Cynthia, saying I'm fine."

"Okay. I'll wait in the living-room..." He turned to the living room but Artio didn't let him go.

"Wait!" She said.

"Yes?" he turned "do you want some more thin-"

Artio hugged him, and he hugged her back too, Mr. Sperios started feeling they were nearly a normal family… finally!

Artio went to her bedroom, wrote a quick letter to Cynthia and sent it by her father's owl. 

When she arrived in the living room, Archibald was holding something in his hand. 

"It arrived a bit after you went to your bedroom." He said, showing a pale white letter with a red symbol on the back "I waited for you until opening it. I have never seen one before."

"Where is it from?" Artio asked.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" he announced proudly.

"Really?"

"Yes. Two days ago, when I sent the owl to the academy, I sent another to the Hogwarts Headmaster. I explained the situation to him, and asked him to accept you at Hogwarts, but he didn't reply before now. As it is for you, I think you were accepted. It would be a great problem if you didn't receive this letter…"

"Why? Is it _that_ important a thing?" Artio asked, not understanding why a simple school letter was so important.

"If you didn't receive it, you wouldn't be able to go to the school."

"What? Must I receive this letter to go to the school?"

"Yes, this school works like that. Lusitania Academy is a Portuguese Ministry of Magic institution, but Hogwarts is an Independent School… people just have to be at the port when Lusitania Ship goes to visit the academy, but here it is different. All people who go to Hogwarts must be invited, receiving a letter like this. They normally send owls to all kids who are eleven here in Great Britain, and some of Ireland… as you went from Portugal, I had to ask them to invite you, they don't simply guess that you want to go there…"

"This is so different. I thought all people could go to every school they wanted to go…"

"No, each school has its selection methods. Hogwarts could have sent you an owl first, even if you lived in Australia, and that would be a sign that you were a big witch! Hogwarts is one of the best Wizarding schools in Europe, and they can't simply cater to everyone's desires. What would they do if every kid in the world wanted to go there? Now, if you received the letter it means that they had studied your case and decided you could be a good witch, and could go study there."

"How did they make the survey about me?"

"Well, they possibly have put someone spying you in this last two days, or asked someone who knew you some things… they could also cast a spell that made them see you… there are many things that we – wizards – can do!"

"Yeah…" Artio wasn't that happy. They could have watched her and Jeremy kissing! _Hum, maybe not_, she thought positively…

"Show it to me" asked Artio's father. "Oh, only this?" he said, when saw the letter.

"Only that?" Artio asked "why _only_ that?"

"Well" he began "I… um… I thought that a letter from Hogwarts could bring more information than a simply material list… It is a so great school. Oh keep that with you. We will go to Diagon Alley and buy your things right now."

"The famous Diagon Alley, hum?" 

"Yes, the place where I and your mum met… It is a beautiful place… you have never been there, but I'm sure you will like it."

"Yes," she agreed, "I can't wait to go!" 

"Okay, don't talk about magic things outside, please. You know we are living in a Muggle community…" he advised.

"I know." She said as they went out the apartment.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Quite far away from there, following the owl road to the Lusitania Ship, Cynthia was trying to find Jeremy, during the lunchtime.

"Have you seen Jeremy?" she asked a first year boy.

"Who?"

"Jeremy Craig," she said, then seemed to see a blond head like his at the other side of the room, "forget it!"

She drove herself to the place where he seemed to be, and there he was, with the boy that came to the shop with him, at Laxus.

"Jeremy!" she called.

"Ah, hello!" he nodded, "you're Artio's friend, right? Where is she?" he was smiling. Cynthia noticed that moment that it would be hard to explain him what happened.

"Yes, I am. Cynthia Tropelt."

"Hum," he stopped grumbling and sat up the chair, "Jeremy Craig, pleasure. Why didn't she come?"

"That's exactly why I came. Can we talk privately?"

"Sure. Walter, I'll be right back." He joined Cynthia and they went out the room, to the deck of the ship.

"So?" Jeremy asked when they sat down in two old metallic chairs that had become rusty because of rain.

"I… Artio didn't come…" Cynthia began.

"I see… where is she? Doesn't she want to see me again?"

"No, she really wants to, but she can't." she informed him, "Jeremy, I don't know how to tell you this… she…"

"What happened? She doesn't love me?"

"It's not that… Jeremy, Artio made me promise that I would tell everything to you, but I don't know if I can tell everything she asked me to."

"I am listening… is it bad?" he started to be preoccupied.

"Artio's parents divorced," she said, "and Artio is very sad."

"Oh god! I know what that means, although my parents never divorced, but I think what happened to me was worse"

"What was it?"

"My dad… he died one year ago, I mean, he was murdered." A tear seemed to appear in one side of his dark eye, but didn't fall over his face.

"I'm sorry for making you think about that" Cynthia said "Really."

"Don't apologize, I like to think about him, he was a great wizard! I am proud of him."

"Well, what happened to you was the worse, but what happened to Artio is quite bad too."

"Yes, I know, can I go talk with her? I know what she should hear in these moments and-"

"Unfortunately, no, you can't go talk with her"

"Hum?"

"She," Cynthia pushed the words out "she is not on the ship any more…"

"What??" Jeremy asked, confused and not believing what he heard.

"It's true, she left yesterday at the sunset, and she went to London and is going to live with her father." Cynthia noticed that the dark color of Jeremy's eyes became even darker, if that was possible, as if he had been the target of a dark spell.

"I can't believe this!" he sat up "this cannot be real, this is a nightmare and I want to wake up. Someone please wake me up!" he looked to the sky, where a brilliant sun was shining in a blue sky without clouds and with sea-gulls "Are you telling me that the girl I love is on the other side of the Ocean? In London, far away from Azores, with her father and that I won't ever see her again?"

"Jeremy, she had no choic-"

"Why do these things happen to _me_, always?" he asked no one.

"Jeremy, I know it is difficult to believe, but try to understand that it was her parents who decided about where she belonged, she wasn't ever asked. I am certain she would prefer to be here, if they let her choose. She told me she didn't want to go live with her father…"

"But she went," he said, "if she really didn't want to go, she wouldn't go, and she did! She could at least try to find me yesterday and if she had explained everything to me, I wouldn't have let her go, ever! Or I would have gone with her."

Cynthia couldn't say anything, she knew he had plenty of reason, and she advised Artio that she should tell Jeremy. 

"On the other hand I met Artio two days ago, and I know that I love her, and that the only thing that happened was _a kiss_, which she told me "not to talk about inside the shop" he was talking to the sea, Cynthia only seeing his back, "and, yeah, I don't even know if she loves me. She didn't say anything when we kissed. We? Or _I_ kissed her? I really don't know. Does she love me and, if she doesn't, why should she tell me she was going away? She certainly thought "What? That boy? Oh forget him!" yeah, in reality I met her two days ago, how can I love her? This is ridiculous! Grrr!"

"Jeremy, you are logical," what more could Cythina say? "But I swear she loves you."

"She does?" he asked, turning to see Cynthia's face, but in a defiant way, "I don't know if _I love her_ yet."

"I know you both love each other," Cynthia tried to call him to reality, "you are frightened out of your wits, try to calm your ideas."

"Are _you_ telling _me_ that _I_ am _"frightened out of my wits"_? What about you? And Artio? Yes, is she all right? Are you sure she is not _"frightened out of her wits?"_ Huh? And you? As you are her friend, you both must be crazy! Hah!"

"Jeremy, I understand you feel really bad, but don't vent your anger at me! I have nothing to do with your problems, I only brought you Artio's message, as she asked me to, and it isn't my fault what happened."

"For god sakes! Leave me alone!!" these last words were said in a high voice, and Cynthia left him alone, also because she couldn't stand his madness!

He was alone hearing the uproar of the sea and thinking. Alone.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Cynthia entered her bedroom, feeling angry with herself: she would have to understand Jeremy; he was really feeling bad, and she didn't let him say everything he wanted to, and she knew that would be a very important thing.

A red hair girl entered the common bedroom. She was taller than Cynthia or even Artio, so Cynthia deduced she was of the second year. She was dressed with a long green dress, very pretty in Cynthia's opinion. She walked quickly to the bed where Cynthia was… 

"Hello." She said, "Isn't this Artio's bedroom?"

"Hum… yes, well no" Cynthia didn't know if it was or if it wasn't anymore…

"Is it or is it not?" she asked, thinking Cynthia was a crazy girl.

"No, she's not here anymore. Why? Do you know Artio?"

"Yes, I am Anaras Tisanta. I helped her when that Patrick thing happened…"

"Ah, I see. She told me about you."

"So you are friends," concluded Anaras.

"Yes, best friends!" Cynthia was proud of it.

"So where did she go?" 

"She… she moved from the academy, she went to London." Cynthia was sure Artio would be angry if Anaras knew about all, but she didn't tell her about Jeremy, "She was going to live with her father, her parents divorced."

"Divorced??" Anaras asked, astonished.

"Yes, it's a long story, which even Artio didn't know yesterday…"

"When did she go? I saw her yesterday at Laxus…"

"Yes, I know, she went yesterday at sunset… it happened too fast: when we came back from Laxus, Captain Dolphin went to her – I wasn't here because I had gone to feed my cats – and told her that her parents had divorced. When I came in she wasn't here, and finally when she arrived she took her things, told me all about it, and went with a friend of Captain Dolphin, on a dragon. At least she made it up with her cousin, Carldonne."

"Carldonne?"

"Yes, he's Artio's cousin, son of her uncle Broderick Sperios."

"Carldonne Sperios? Really? I can't believe it! So they are cousins…"

"Yes, why?" asked Cynthia, who didn't understand anything.

"Because… I am his girlfriend…"

"Really?"

"Yes, this is an amazing thing!" Anaras grinned, "I haven't found him since yesterday after lunchtime. He had told me he wanted to talk with his cousin, but I didn't know she was Artio… I influenced his decision, yes, it was me who explained him he shouldn't be at odds with his cousin…"

"He's a nice guy, I met him when Artio went. I, Carldonne and Captain Dolphin went outside say good bye to her… she really didn't want to go live with her father, also because she thought it was him who asked to divorce…"

"The world is quite small!" Anaras said, with her brown eyes shining proudly.

"Yeah, I agree with you…" Cynthia said.

"Well, I have to go now, I must do some things until four o'clock…"

"Okay, bye!"

"See you around. Let me know when Artio sends you owls… I will write to her soon" Anaras went out of the female first years' bedrooms, as Cynthia started to find her cats.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Arriving in Diagon Alley, after she and her father entered "_The Leaky Cauldron_" to change out of their Muggle clothes, Artio was fascinated with the magnificence of the place. She had never seen a place with so many wizard shops!

They went to Gringotts Wizarding Bank where her father had his wizard money (he had had some difficulty dealing with Muggle money), and then bought the things that she need to take to Hogwarts, but only the things she hadn't already bought at Laxus. 

At "Flourish and Blotts" there were many students with letters from Hogwarts, buying their books for that year. Some of them were carrying _"The monstrous book of monsters"_, which Artio has never seen before, and thought, _"Which of these do I have to buy? I hope they don't bite me…"_

"Artio." called her father, who was talking with a man dressed in black clothes, and whose voice was cold. She came near them.

"Yes, father?"

"This is Professor Snape" he announced.

"Pleasure," Artio nodded, as he looked at her fixedly, without saying anything.

"We came from Portugal. She firstly went to Lusitania Magical Academy, but then I moved to London, and she arrived yesterday. She was accepted there at Hogwarts" he turned to Artio "Professor Snape is the Potions Master at Hogwarts, I think you will love his class."

"I am sure I will love Potions!" Artio said, feeling quite the contrary…

"So you came from Lusitania!" Snape asked Artio "Do they teach Dark Magic still? It was a great school some years ago, now I don't know if they are teaching the same things that gave them the title "_The Darkest School_". Do they?"

Artio didn't know what to say. "Darkest School??" she was very surprised. "_Is Lusitania a school where Dark Magic is taught?_" she thought.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

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Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here and **post reviews here**.

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	6. Owls, Dark Spells and New Places

**Author****:** Sirius White

**Author email****:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com

**Category****:** Romance/Adventure/Action/Mystery

**Keywords****:** Artio Sperios, Patrick, Anaras, Captain Dolphin, Lusitania

**Spoilers****:** All the four books and QTTA and FB.

**Rating****:** PG

**Summary****:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

**Disclaimer****:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned By JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note****:** Dedicated to my Beta-Readers Jo and Trinity Black.

****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****

Lusitania 

BY    S I R I U S   W H I T E

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

SIXTH CHAPTER 

OWLS, DARK SPELLS AND NEW PLACES

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

"So you came from Lusitania!" Snape asked Artio "Do they teach Dark Magic still? It was a great school some years ago, now I don't know if they are teaching the same things that gave them the title "_The Darkest School_". Do they?"

Artio didn't know what to say. "Darkest School??" she was very surprised. "_Is Lusitania a school where Dark Magic is taught?_" she thought.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

"I don't think so… do you, father?" Artio said, after thinking for a while about the answer, and hating Snape before he even talked to her.

"No, I don't also think so…" Archibald turned to Snape "I think that the Portuguese ministry of Magic knew about the teaching of Dark Magic in Lusitania and ordered them to stop it…"

"I see… Durmstrang is now the best in that subject," Snape said, grinning, "No one is perfect! See you at Hogwarts." he said to Artio, and turned to Knockturn Alley.

"Artio, maybe he seemed a bit strange" began Mr. Sperios "but he is a good person, it was he who helped me to contact Albus Dumbledore when I was doing that report about the schools… you know… and maybe he influenced in Dumbledore's decision in accepting you to Hogwarts…"

"I must say I didn't like him…" Artio said.

"I hope you change your opinion about him… how many more other books do you have to buy?"

"Only a few more…"

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Cynthia was going to the first year girls' dormitory, after having dinner, when she heard a voice "Good evening everyone! Please sit down and listen to me." It was Captain Dolphin, who was sat in the Professors table, with Professor Shayra Stormd'sky, and the prefects.

Cynthia went back to the chair she had sat on during dinner, sat down again, and prepared to listen him.

"As you should know, we are arriving at the Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft in a few hours." Everyone started to talk about it. "Finally", "Cool"…

"Please…" Captain Dolphin tried to be heard above the noise. "Please shut up and listen to me" they seemed to obey, and some shut up.

"Thank you… As I was saying we are arriving at the academy soon and, I presume you already know this, but I have to tell you some important things so that first years will learn them and the others will remember, about classes and some other things…"

"In the grounds you will have Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. Your Professor of Herbology will be Professor Stormd'sky" he looked to his right side, where she was sitting.

"Care of Magical Creatures is taught by Professor Caroline Zelt, Captain of the Seagull house. In the Quidditch fields you'll learn how to fly, with Professor Sabrina Pitinus, Captain of the Mermaid house. Inside the Academy, you'll have the other six classes. History of Magic is taught by Professor Justin Tintacle, Captain of the Octopus house, on the second floor. On the third floor you'll have Transfiguration, with Professor Damarion Slibel, Captain of the Crab house. In the dungeons you'll learn Charms, taught by the Captain of the Shark house, Professor Josh Darkwater. The Potions classroom is on the fourth floor and will be taught by Professor Langueldia Barbutinus, Captain of the Whale house. Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taught by Professor Sinushoy Habecula, from the Shark house, on the sixth floor. Finally, on the seventh floor I will teach Astronomy. Some of you know also the following rules, but others don't, so I will repeat them, as I do every year."

"Students aren't allowed to go to the fifth floor. You should not _try_ to go to that floor: there are stairs between the fourth and the sixth floors that don't allow students and some Professors to go to the fifth floor. Don't try to break the spell on the stairs…"

"To visit the restricted section of the Library students must get permission from the Professor who is directly related to the subject which the book is on. If the book the student wants isn't related to any class in special, the authorization must be given by the captain of your house, which in your case, is me."

"I think you should go put your things in your bags because we'll arrive in a few hours. See you then." He sat down at the Professors' table, and many students started to stand up and go to the bedrooms to put their things in their bags, and that was what Cynthia did too.

Arriving at the girls' room, before the first year girls' bedroom, she listened some third year girls talking:

"In the other years, we took more time in the ship: we normally sleep three nights here, and this year we arrive before going to bed, and during the night, which is even more strange… why have they decided to arrive during night?"

"Yeah… it is, indeed, strange, and odd …"

"Maybe they don't want us to arrive when it is day, maybe someone is watching us, you know that my father told me about the Dark Mark during the Quidditch World Cup in the last month."

"No, I don't think so. The academy is property of the Portuguese Ministry of Magic… the academy can't be under surveillance by the Dark Side…"

"Yeah, you are right… well, we will have to wait and see."

Cynthia listened their conversation and started to think about the problem by herself. _"If they know how they arrived in the previous years and it wasn't ever like this, why do we arrive faster than expected, and also during the night?"_

Cynthia couldn't explain anything, so she started to put her stuff in her bag, preparing to arrive at a new place, where she had never been, and where she would be for the next six years.

There was an owl standing at the window, knocking with its beak, so Cynthia would hear it. Cynthia opened the window; the owl put the letter in her hands, and flew away. Cynthia couldn't see it because it was as dark night…

Dear Cynthia, 

_I wrote this quite quickly, because my father and I are going to Diagon Alley to buy my stuff for Hogwarts. _

_He explained me some things to me and I understood him, and how he feels: it was my mother who broke up with him. But as I haven't much time, I will explain that to you in the next owl…_

_My father and I are living in a Muggle area because he's doing some research for his office… I've started to like living here…_

_And you? How are you? I hope you're fine… tell me how is Carldonne, yourself and Captain Dolphin._

_Have you talked to Jeremy? What did he say? Tell me everything. I hope my father's owl arrives there soon, although I know it is quite far._

_Kisses, _

_Artio_

Cynthia hadn't time to write back to Artio: she had to go to the Dolphins' common room and then to the academy, and additionally, she didn't have her own owl…

She promised herself she would write later, in her bedroom, at the academy.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Artio arrived home, after buying her things at Diagon Alley, and went to have dinner.

As she was too tired, she went to bed nearly straight away after dining.

There was there also an owl for her, with grey feathers, and yellow eyes.

Dear Artio! 

_How are you? And dad? I hope you are fine._

_I haven't told you anything about mum and dad's problems. I know Imade a mistake. I'm sorry. I should have told you, I know, but now I can't change the past…_

_I know you are feeling very angry with me, and you are right, I was very stupid._

_I know you wouldn't like to live with dad, but I think he will explain you such things that will make you reconsider; if you don't want to live there with him, tell me and you can come to live with me and Tuverine._

_I am currently researching werewolves, in the biggest Wizarding Library of the world, in Australia._

_Tell me how things are going there, about everything you want. I'll keep your secrets if you make me your own diary._

_Love,_

_Your guardian angel, diary, and brother Rudolph_

Artio was very happy, as her brother had finally sent her an owl. She was, indeed, angry about his attitude, but what could he do now? She had to understand him too; their parents didn't let him tell her anything… so she decided to write back to him:

Hello my lovely "guardian angel, diary, and brother" Rudolph! 

_I am very happy for you because you are doing what you really want to. How is Tuverine? I hope you both are fine. _

_I must tell you that dad and I are living happily, in a Muggle area, in London… it's because of research he is doing for the Office._

_He explained many things to me, about him and mum, and now I know it was better for them to divorce than to continue living together without love. I think you knew it._

_Be sure, you'll become my diary when I need to talk!_

_Love,_

_Artio_

She sent the owl back to her brother, dressed in her pyjamas, and lay down in bed. The next day would be her first time at Hogwarts, and she needed to sleep.

****

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

****

Cynthia was in the Dolphin common room, as were many other students. They'd already put their things in their bags, and prepared to listen to  Captain Dolphin's orders, wanting their arrival to take as long as possible.

"Is everyone ready?" the Captain said, sitting in the same armchair he had been sitting in some minutes ago, with Professor Shayra and the prefects.

Some students came from the dormitories.

"Very well." He began, "As decided in the Wizarding International Conference, classes of all the Wizarding schools in the world, particular or public, must begin on September first. Usually, the Lusitania Ship arrives to the academy on the morning of that day, but this year we increased the velocity because we have some things to do, things which can't be done here on the ship. I know some of you have asked about this, and so here is the answer."

Cynthia thought _"Oh, finally! There's the answer!"_ and instantly questioned herself _"But what do they have to do there?"_

"First years don't know anything about the school, or at least they don't know everything… The others should go." everyone started talking. "First years please stay, the others should go out, so it'll be less confusing. Professor Shayra will go with you. Good luck."

Some people of the first year started to protest "I don't agree with this. We should all have the same rights!" Cynthia heard the others' comments, but didn't say anything.

As the others were gone, Captain Dolphin continued.

"Welcome, first years, to many new things: a new life, a new home, a new house, new Professors, new friends, new family! This year we have a lot of girls in the Dolphin house – fifteen, we had sixteen, but one has left – and only five boys. But that doesn't matter…"

Cynthia nodded that there were only nine girls and two boys right there, how did he say that?"

"Ah, you should be asking… _fifteen girls and five boys? I only see eleven of them!_ Yes, there are six girls and three boys that come from Brazil. as you should know, this school also accepts students from Brazil, because they also speak Portuguese… I think you know how the points system works… no?"

A brown haired boy, the one who was with Jeremy in Laxus, said, "Um… no… can you explain me, Professor?"

"Sure. No one knows before someone tells him, right?" he smiled "You win – or lose – points as you do good or bad things. Professors will give you points if you do good things, and will take them from you if you do bad things. Some examples of good things… to help others doing some difficult homework, participating in the classes… bad things: to turn your friend in a mouse, to be out of bedrooms during the night… if you do really bad things you will receive a punishment, which I won't give any example because I think you won't do anything badly, do you?" he didn't wait for the answer, "the points will go to you or to your own house. The house that achieves the greatest amount of points will be the winner of the inter-house cup that year. Note that the Dolphin house won the inter-house competition two years ago, and the Seagull house won last year. I hope you can do it. As we know some of you are very smart and want to study several things, and you can trade your points into things you want. You must bear in your mind that you can only trade the points _you_ won for your house. If you use those points, they won't count to the inter-house cup. Do you understand? You will help to earn points for your house, but the cup is also between each of you: the points you earned can be turned into other things."

"Professor," a black, long and curly haired girl interrupted, "What kind of things can we buy with our points?"

"Good question!" he said, "You can buy, as you said, several things, and with several points: you can have access to books in the restricted section of our Library, you must note that the number of points to each one isn't equal, and you have to ask for a written parchment to the Professor who is directly related to the book you want to consult. As we also know that you want to have your own money to buy several things, you can use points to buy real money. I think this isn't the most usual thing to do, but… Ah! You can also buy points from other people. For example… you, what's your name?" he asked to the girl who made the question.

"Sarah Wolf".

"For example, Miss Wolf would buy some points owned by Miss Tropelt" as he said this, he looked to Cynthia and she heard a voice inside her head _I want to talk with you privately. Find me in the academy tomorrow morning._ "They would decide how many points she would sell, and how much each point would cost. Then, those points would be added to Miss Wolf's points account. You can't buy points from the other houses' students, as they can't buy yours."

"But if we use our own points, our house will lose them… I think we can't buy everything we want because if we do, our house won't win the inter-house cup" a little boy, Jeremy's friend, said this.

"Yes, that's true," Captain Dolphin agreed, "You can use your own points but you must remember you are part of a great team, that also need you points to win the inter-house cup… you shall only use your points for important things. Now I am going to introduce the prefects of the Dolphin house to you. This is Francesca Timpsy, of the fourth year," a blonde haired, brown eyed, tall girl said_ hello,_ "n her right you have John Brenkinsun, of the fifth year," a red haired, yellow eyed, thin boy nodded, "and finally Maya Harrington, who is in the sixth year," a brown eyed, long black haired girl nodded too. "They are the Dolphin house prefects this year, and will help you with everything you need, just ask them. Now I am going to ask you to introduce yourselves, so we will know your names." He looked to his right, and the students started to introduce themselves.

Cynthia thought that was a good idea… she only knew Ariane, Artio and the two boys, Jeremy and his friend, Walter; that'd be a good way to know the others' names.

"Hum… er… I am Madeleine Pustrin, I am from Portugal, and I'm fourteen-"

"Okay, I know… you "like Transfiguration, although you've never been in that class, right?" asked Captain Dolphin, jokingly, and the girl replied a smiling _yes_.

"I… my name is Ariane Silbus, I am from Portug-" she was interrupted by Captain Dolphin.

"We know everyone here is from Portugal: the Brazilian students haven't arrived yet… you don't need to say that."

"Oh, well, I think everyone here is fourteen too… I like all kinds of animals, well… okay, all kinds, and so I think I'll like Care of Magical Creatures class."

Cynthia thought Ariane would be a good friend: they had some interests in common, and Cynthia didn't know she liked animals…

Two more girls presented themselves: Sarah Wolf, a girl with long black curly hair; and Katie Turner, who had brown hair.

Now it was Cynthia's turn. She was a bit nervous, although there was no reason for that.

"I am Cynthia Tropelt and I think I'll like Care of Magical Creatures, because I also like animals, like Ariane" she looked at her, as Ariane smiled.

"Hi everyone!" said a blonde haired, brown eyed girl who seemed to be funny, and sociable "I am Amanda Finn, and I'm sure I will love to learn Defense against the Dark Arts, because my parents were murdered by a Death Eater and I want revenge!"

The others looked at her, as if she was crazy… _Revenge?_ What could _she_ do?

Three more girls introduced themselves: Susan Amparo, Marysia Anderson and Natasha Bizecuit. 

"Hi I am Jeremy Craig, and I will love Potions, because I heard that Professor Barbutinus is beautiful," everyone but Cynthia laughed. She was angry with him. And he shouldn't have said that about the Potions Professor. But Captain Dolphin laughed too, if anything like that was said…

"Haha… I… Ha… my name is Walter Calysto and, as I like the past and the origins of witchcraft, I'm sure I will like History of Magic…"

"Okay," Captain Dolphin began, "Now you've introduced yourselves, let's go to the academy!"

The students grinned happily, and followed the prefects to the door of the Dolphin Common Room.

Cynthia was going out, like the others, when Captain Dolphin called her.

"Yes?"

"Cynthia, I need to talk to you. It's urgent."

"Okay. What is it about?" she replied, curiously

"Cynthia, the reason because we came here faster is Artio. And I need some help from you." 

"What happened to her? Is she back at the academy?" Cynthia was curious and had a feeling between happiness for Artio's possible return, and sadness for the possibility that something might have happened to her.

"No. I think you know everything that happened to her, right?"

"Yes." She quickly remembered about everything: Patrick that was in fact Jeremy, Carldonne, Anaras, and the shop…

"You know about that Patrick Spell… there is a boy, Jeremy Craig, you saw it a few instants ago when he introduced himself to the others, he was the target of the spell, and he gave Artio a drink. Now, the person who cast the spell can control Artio until someone casts a kind of counter spell."

"But she told me she was fine, when she was in the Hospital wing. She thought you did something and that everything was right…"

"I didn't ever say she was all right, did I?"

"Well," Cynthia didn't know: she hadn't been there when Artio was in the Infirmary, and so she didn't know what Captain Dolphin had said… that time she didn't even know Artio, "I don't know, she didn't tell me that you'd said that, but she thought you did."

"She misunderstood." Said Captain Dolphin "We just used a potion so that she wouldn't be affected in a short term period of time. We didn't have the sufficient means to cast the counter spell here in the Ship, and we increased the velocity so that we would arrive at the academy faster…"

"I understand, but she is no longer here. Why didn't you keep the to the normal speed?" Cynthia didn't find any reason for that.

"You're right. But, although she isn't here, there is another person that was affected by the spell."

"Who?" Cynthia didn't mind someone more could be affected.

"Jeremy, the boy who was the target of the _Controlatus_ spell."

"But," Cynthia didn't understand, "Wasn't it the Patrick spell?"

"Patrick was a name that he said, under the spell, and I used it for you to understand. I know I lied to Artio, I didn't tell her the whole truth about it, but she shouldn't know. She must not know anything, Cynthia. Please don't tell her anything because if you do, the counter spell won't work."

"And what can I do?" Cynthia remembered about Jeremy and his attitudes and she noticed that he was under the spell, that the words he said earlier in the morning weren't from him: he couldn't say that, and she felt bad for being angry with him.

"Captain Dolphin," a blonde haired, brown eyed girl called, "We are all waiting for you to go to the academy. Some students are protesting: it is very cold outside" She was a prefect, Francesca Timpsy, of the fourth year.

"Okay, let's go," he said, and Francesca went.

"I heard your voice when you were talking about the points." Cynthia said to Captain Dolphin.

"I know. So, do what I told you. Find me in my Office before 6 o'clock. Now, we must go."

They went outside. Cynthia went first and ran to join the others. It was really cold. That was the tenth island of the Azores archipelago, the one that wizards controlled. Cynthia saw the name, written in a piece of wood, in bold, old and capital letters. It was called Sitnalta. 

The sea wasn't calm at all. The wind was making high waves, and even the moon couldn't be seen because of the clouds.

There was also a fog patch that didn't allow them to see the Lusitania Castle until they walked a few metres.

It was a high castle with lots of towers, some higher than others. The highest was in the centre of the Castle. The students walked up to a big wooden door that was closed. 

Cynthia stayed there, as the others, and when she looked to the place where the Lusitania ship was, she saw two similar ships.

She thought she was crazy, but noticed she wasn't because the students came from the other ship, and when they arrived near the Portuguese ones, Cynthia knew what that was: the Ship that came from Brazil; that unmistakable Brazilian accent told them everything…

A small and old woman opened the wooden door behind them.

"Good evening pupils!" she said, "Welcome to Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft! Come in, please, follow me."

The Brazilian Students quickly joined the others and they all became one group.

Captain Dolphin followed them in the corridor, but went through a door on the left, and Cynthia couldn't see him anymore. She tried to get nearer Ariane, the girl who she had talked to.

They followed the woman for a long corridor and turned to the left, as Captain Dolphin did, to the Common Eating Room.

As she turned and passed through the door, she saw Captain Dolphin, who was sat down at the Professors' table. There were two women and three men, including Captain Dolphin and Professor Stormd'sky.

The Room was full of students. It was quite different to the Eating Rooms on the Ship: the room on the ship was much bigger and there were students from all the seven houses. The non-first years all sat there, at their own house table.

"Welcome, new Dolphins!" said Captain Dolphin, "Please sit down at the Dolphin house table. I ask you to have patience because we must wait for some first year students from the other three houses of the academy; Whale, Octopus and Mermaid."

The first year Dolphins sat down in silence, on one side of the table. Students of every year sat at that table. Cynthia tried to sit near Ariane, but as she had other girls sitting next to her, she had to sit near Sarah Wolf and a Brazilian girl, Monica Banana, who was very sympathetic too, but Cynthia would only notice that after the supper.

Some minutes after everyone was seated, the noise started again in the corridor.

That woman opened the door of the common room one more time, and some other first years entered.

"Welcome new Whales!" said a tall women who wore glasses "Please sit down in the Whale house table…" she said almost the same thing as Captain Dolphin.

Similarly, the first years of the Mermaid house came to the Common Room, as did the Octopus after.

When everyone was ready, the ceremony began.

The music started playing by itself, and the ghosts entered through the walls, dancing, and each one over his house table. 

The Dolphin's ghost was the fattest, and he almost couldn't dance…

They danced and sang for a while. Cynthia grinned a lot, Monica was very funny and she was ever joking about what the ghosts were doing… 

"Very well," said a man, dressed in a black cloak, who had a scar down his left eye, "Welcome to a new year in Lusitania Academy. I think you know how the points work, don't you?"

"Yes, we know." Said the whole room.

"Okay, I hope you use your points the best you can." He grinned, "We've explained to you who are the teachers of all the classes, and where the classrooms are. Now I think you shall know something more about each Professor." He paused for a second; looked at some parchment he had on the table, and continued, "I am Professor Darkwater, I'm captain of he Shark house," many voices and applauds were heard from the Shark table, "thank you. I also teach Charms, I'm member of the Wizard Beasts Committee, and my hobbies are to play high competition wizard chess, reading and… well, that's it." He sat down, and a beautiful woman stood up in the same instant.

"My name is Langueldia Barbutinus, I teach Potions and I am head of the Whale house. I like to play Quidditch when I have free time and I love to chat with my students…" as she sat down, Professor Shayra Stormd'sky sat up and told them what she usually did: teaching, teaching and teaching. Cynthia thought, _"How boring is her life!"_

This time, eight more Professors entered from a door in the right. Cynthia thought they were late but then she noticed she was wrong.

They simply sat down, as the other teachers presented themselves, only the ones who captain the other six houses. The late ones simply were there, saying nothing

At the end they asked if everyone had questions. No one did.

The prefects of each house asked the students to go to the Common Rooms, and Dolphins followed them accordingly.

They walked for a while, but Cynthia was feeling tired, and didn't pay attention to the corridors or the stairs either. She simply followed the others.

When she arrived to the first year girls' dormitory she lay down in her bed, saying "Good Night" to the other girls, and fell asleep.

The next day would be a difficult one…

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****

Artio wake up too early, it was six o'clock, but stayed in her bed thinking about everything that helped her, until her father called her. After having bath, dressing, brushing her teeth, she went to the kitchen, where her father was still having breakfast.

"How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Quite well, I didn't have nightmares." Artio replied, "When are we leaving?" 

He looked to his Muggle watch and said, "We are late. Let's go!"

They took Artio's things and went to London. Her father told her about the Hogwarts Express, but that year she wouldn't be going in it: he explained that the Headmaster of the school, Professor Dumbledore, asked him to go to Hogsmeade with Artio using the Floo Powder Network. 

They went to the Diagon Alley and used a fireplace of an Archibald's friend.

In one minute, they were in Hogsmeade. It was early, Artio thought, but maybe that was what they had deliberated.

"Artio," said Mr. Sperios when they were in the Hogwarts gate, "You will go to the big castle in the front, and then to a big man, who is supposed to be Hagrid." She felt a bit afraid, but entered the gate and followed him to the castle. Her father was gone, he had apparated right at the end of the street.

The big man didn't say a word during the walk down the journey, he simply walked to the castle, followed by her, as if no one was going with him. Artio didn't like him very much: it seemed he had no feelings.

When they entered the castle, Hagrid turned to her and said in a strong voice "Welcome to Hogwarts, Artio Sperios!" and talking to no one he said, "My mission is accomplished, I said what I was asked to, even if I don't like you. It's your entire fault! I hope you stay here for the least time. You are not welcome."

Artio was confused. What had she done? What was her fault? She didn't understand why the big man hated her, and couldn't say one word.

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**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Wolf Of Solitude, Wormtail, Belladona Patil and Aline Carneiro!****

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Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see **Art** at Lusitania Website and **post reviews here**.

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	7. Friends, Houses and Points

**Title:** Lusitania (7)  
**Author name:** siriuswhite  
**Author email:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com  
**Category:** Romance  
**Sub Category:** Mystery  
**Keywords:** Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA  
**Summary:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** Dedicated to Túlia, a great great friend. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Trinity Black, Wolf Of Solitude, Kahlessk, ElfinKat, Nentari and Gemma! 

Special Thanks to my beta-readers, Jo, Lizzy and Gemma.

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Lusitania 

BY S I R I U S   W H I T E

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SEVENTH CHAPTER 

FRIENDS, HOUSES AND POINTS 

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When they entered the castle, Hagrid turned to her and said in a strong voice, "Welcome to Hogwarts, Artio Sperios!" and talking to no one he said, "My mission is accomplished, I said what I was asked to, even if I don't like you. It's your entire fault! I hope you stay here for the least time. You are not welcome." 

Artio was confused. What had she done? What was her fault? She didn't understand why the big man hated her, and couldn't say one word. 

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"Hagrid!" Snape appeared near the wooden entrance, "Why did you do that? _Obliviate_!"

He performed a weak memory spell on Artio, so she didn't remember the past events. She didn't know how she came to be where she was, but she didn't ask anything, thinking she had been distracted by something on the road.

"Oh," Snape said, "How are you? And Archibald, is he alright?" 

"Yes," she remembered how her father left her in the gate of the school but didn't remember how she got inside.

"I'm glad to see you here. I will take you to Professor McGonagall's office."

He turned and went up the stairs. Artio followed him, but not before looking at Hagrid who had a not-very-welcome expression on his face.

They walked through many corridors and up many stairs and finally stopped in front of a heavy wooden door with a bronzed nameplate reading written "Professor M. McGonagall".

Snape knocked at the door, opened it and said "Minerva, _She_ is here." He looked outside and asked Artio to enter. Then he left, leaving the two alone.

"Um, hello Professor," she said nervously, a bit apprehensive at the prospect of a meeting with the Assistant Headmistress.

"Good evening, Miss Sperios," McGonagall replied, "I'm not sure if anyone has informed you of why you have arrived earlier than the others…

"No, my father didn't tell me anything," Artio remembered that morning in their apartment.

"I'll suppose I must explain. Because you are beginning your magical education at the age of fourteen, you are significantly behind the other students. Normally, fourteen-year-old students are beginning their fourth year, but you, however, must begin as a first year. Professor Dumbledore arranged a situation in which you will have one-on-one tutoring sessions with your professors and several of the top students at this school." 

"Hum… but can you do that?" she asked, confused.

"That is none of your concern," snapped the stern professor, who continued her previous line of thought, "We wanted you to arrive earlier in order to avoid the obvious upheaval of an exchange student. You must be sorted into one of our houses: each has their own prestigious reputation. They are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. We would like to sort you immediately as not to draw any undue attention."

Artio nodded silently, and watched in awe as a tattered, old hat on a marble pedestal opened its ancient brim and began to sing, slightly off-key.

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Cynthia woke up to a completely silent dormitory. The girls were all asleep; the first class did not begin until the afternoon.

That was good for her; she could help Captain Dolphin with the problem of Jeremy's spell. She dressed herself and went out of the bedroom, arriving in the Dolphin common room. 

She tried to open the door to go outside but it wouldn't let her out, and she stood near it for a few moments, confused, before remembering that she had to write the password on the door with her wand. But she had one problem, she didn't know the password, the previous day she had been extraordinarily tired and hadn't pay attention to what the prefects had said… the only thing she could do was to wait until someone else woke up. 

That would take quite a while, she had awoken too early and even the students who would have classes in the morning hadn't woken up yet…

Finally the second year girls' dormitory door opened and a girl came out. It was Anaras.

"Cynthia! Why are you up so early?" she asked, surprised.

"I was hungry and I wanted to go get something to eat but I don't know the password."

"Oh" Anaras said "The prefects didn't tell it to you?"

"They did but I was very tired last night, so I didn't really pay attentio to anything they said…"

"The password is _Sunny day_," Anaras informed.

"Thanks" said Cynthia, simultaneously writing it on the wooden door, which opened silently. Cynthia went out with Anaras, who was going to the fields, since she and Carldonne had decided to meet there.

Within just a few minutes they were in the Great Hall, Anaras went out saying, "See you around!"

Cynthia tried to find Captain Dolphin's office, but she had no idea where it was. She was, in fact, hungry, so she walked back to the Common Room, where a few students were eating breakfast.

She noticed Francesca Timpsy, a fourth year prefect, eating breakfast. Cynthia made her way to sit near the girl, at the Dolphin's table, and sat silently, a bit shy.

"Hello," said Francesca, "you're a first year, aren't you?"

"Yes," Cynthia replied, putting a piece of toast on her plate, "I'm Cynthia. Can you tell me where Captain Dolphin's office is?"

"Sure. It's on the fourth floor, near the Potions classroom; his name is written in the door – you can't miss. I've got to go now." Cynthia noticed she had finished her breakfast, "Professor Stormd'sky asked me to help her with sending some owls. See you later, at lunch." she said taking her bag and left the common room. 

Cynthia continued eating her toast and started to observe the other students. There were the most students at the Whale table, mainly older ones who seemed to be fourth years. The Shark table had the least number of students, only four people; one boy and three girls. One of them was acting as though she was the Queen. Cynthia looked at the clock on the wall, it showed it was five to six. She grabbed her bag and walked to the fourth floor, where she would have to meet Captain Dolphin at six o'clock.

Francesca was right; it was easy to find his office.

She knocked at the door. 

A man's voice answered, "Come in!" 

She opened the door and entered, "Good morning, Captain Dolphin,"

"Good morning. Are you ready to help me?"

"Sure. What can I do?"

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"RAVENCLAW!" the hat announced loudly.

Artio removed the hat, looking to Professor McGonagall, silently asking what she should do next.

"You were sorted into Ravenclaw," McGonagall clarified," The Head of Ravenclaw is Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor. You need to go find him. He can tell you more about your house, classes, and so on." 

"Where can I find him, Professor McGonagall?" Artio asked.

"I'll take you to his office. Follow me."

They exited McGonagall's office, and Artio followed Professor McGonagall, who was in front, walking rapid and silently.

She led them through many of the same hallways Snape and Artio had gone through, and finally arrived at a door, labeled "Professor F. Flitwick's Office." McGonagall knocked swiftly at the door and left again, dispatching Artio into the care of the anonymous Professor Flitwick. She saw McGonagall turning at the end of the corridor, as the door opened.

"Yes?" the tiny Professor squeaked.

"Um… Professor Flitwick?" Artio began.

"I am he. Can I help you?"

"I'm the girl who came from Lusitania Academy, I suppose you know, and I was sorted into Ravenclaw. Professor McGonagall brought me here, and said you needed to tell me some thing."

"You were sorted into Ravenclaw… hum… interesting, okay…" he obvious deep in thought. 

Artio noticed, and asked "What is so interesting, Professor?"

"Oh, nothing, I just didn't expect you would be a Ravenclaw."

"Is it bad? Why didn't you expect that?"

"No, it's good," he said, and murmured, "at least it's not _that_ bad…Aah, well, forget that. I simply didn't expect you'd be a Ravenclaw because you came from other place and… and I knew very little about you."

"Oh, I understand" she agreed, looking at a portrait in Flitwick's office. It was of a fairy; at least it _seemed_ to be of a fairy. It had wings and a yellow dress and was flying through a cluster of trees. The only reason that it mightn't be a fairy was the fact that it was too big compared to the trees. 

"Ms. Sperios, what's your first name?" Flitwick asked, interested.

"Artio" she replied, still gazing at the portrait.

"Well, Artio, you know you are a special student, don't you?"

She looked at him and stopped observing the portrait, "Yes, Professor McGonagall told me that a few minutes ago."

"You'll have extra classes in addition to the normal ones and do a large amount of individual study, supervised by some of the best Hogwarts students. In the evening, the other students will arrive and you'll meet your tutors. Now you can go to the Great Hall, the common room or to the Quidditch fields until they come. Enjoy Hogwarts!"

"Thank you, Professor Flitwick." She turned and was about to go outside but then she realized that she didn't know how to get to the Great Hall "Er, Professor…."

"Yes?" he replied.

"Oh, nothing, sorry, I'll be there in the evening." she went outside. She would find her way to the Great Hall without bothering anyone for directions, she decided, and began walking through the corridor, trying to remember where she had begun…

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In Captain Dolphin's office, Cynthia was attentively listening what she was supposed to do...

"It is imperative that you cast the spell at the same time I do. This is a difficult spell and as you haven't learned any magic you'll have to be very careful to avoid errors. I shouldn't have gotten you into this. You are too young and this is a Dark Spell. Cynthia, remember that you must tell no one about this."

"I know, Captain," she said, "I'm sure I can do it. I'll do it, I'll do everything to help Artio."

"Good. The Spell must be cast at the night. He can't be allowed to see the sun-light."

"I know, you've already said that. I have no doubt in my mind that we can do this. I'll find him and I'll bring him here-"

"No. It can't be here in my office," he said, "We'll have to take him someplace else… he'll be asleep for some time after the spell is performed."

"For how long?" she asked seriously.

"More than two days..."

"Does it have to take that long?" she asked, incredulous, "He won't be able to attend classes and the Professors suspect..."

"No," the Captain said firmly, "I will tell them that he's at the mediwizard's with some sort of horrible illness that our nurse can't fix. They'll trust me. 

"All right," she said, still unsure, "Now I've to go, I'll search for the book with the spell in it as you told me."

"Good. Remember that you mustn't tell anyone I'm involved in this, if someone discovers anything, then you were the one who did everything. I did nothing, I didn't even know about the books you requested, make sure you ask other Professors for permission to use them..."

"I will see you tonight, then, sir. I'll bring him here, then we'll figure out something." she stood up, stretched her legs, and walked to the door, "Thank you for letting me help with this, sir," she said.

"You're welcome." he said as she went outside.

Cynthia walked through the many corridors, reached the Great Hall, and went to the Common Room. It was eleven o'clock in the morning. She had passed all those hours in Captain Dolphin's office listening to him although it didn't seem that long, though...

That was the time of the break from the classes, many students were in the common room, others were in the fields, or simply in the corridors. All the students had a break then. There was much confusion and noise everywhere. Cynthia realized she didn't know most of the people there, only Ariane, Jeremy and Monica, that girl from Brazil... 

Then She remembered that most of the people she knew be in the dormitories; they would only have their first classes during the afternoon. She went back to the Dolphin Common Room, on the third floor. 

On the second floor there were a group of students, they seemed to be doing something that they shouldn't: they started singing when she passed and then she heard a great noise when she was on the stairs... arriving at the third floor, she realized that the door which she passed in the morning, the one to the Dolphin's Common room, wasn't there anymore, instead, in the corridor there was only two portraits and one door at the end of the hall, on which there was a sign with "Infirmary" on it. She was sure the door was there. The portraits were of a Knight and the other of a Woman, whose robes looked like they were from the times of King Arthur... 

Cynthia stared at them. "Er... Can you please tell me where the Dolphin Common Room is, please?" she asked politely.

The first who replied was the Knight. "Rosan, this girl is trying to get into the Dolphin's Common Room, she could at least find another way to do it, does she think we are stupid?" The woman had moved to his portrait, and they were both staring at Cynthia. The woman, Rosan, replied, "Darling, we aren't like you, but we aren't stupid, right?"

Cynthia was sad; she didn't want to call them stupid as they thought she was doing. "I am a Dolphin student, I just don't remember where the door is, I don't see it but I'm sure it is here, I passed through it in the morning, you would have seen me, wouldn't you?"

"In the morning?" Rosan replied "Oh no, I was with Michael on the fifth floor,"

"What?" said the Knight "You were with him in the morning? That means you slept in his portrait? I can't believe this, you lied to me!" he disappeared from his portrait.

"No, it's not true, we were just talking." she tried to explain. She didn't go away, but looked Cynthia over and said, "Do you see what you did? Oh girl, don't try to break the spell of the Dolphin Common Room, how do I know you aren't a student from one of the other houses?"

Cynthia remembered one thing that she could show her to prove that she was, in fact, a Dolphin student.

"I can show you" she started.

"How?" replied Rosan, staring at her.

"The password is Sunny Day!"

"Oh, well, sorry. I won't forgive myself for being so mad with a Dolphin student!" she said with a sad expression on her face.

"Er, please, would you like to tell me where it is?"

"Oh, sure, it's between our two portraits".

Cynthia looked at the wall where she said the door was, and she didn't notice any strange thing in the wall. She took her wand and wrote in the wall Sunny Day. The wall transformed into a door and opened quickly. She passed through it and in the Common Room there were some students talking or just sitting in the chairs. One girl was writing on the table, it wouldn't have been homework, they didn't have any classes so far, at least the first years didn't, and that girl was a first year, Cynthia knew her, although she hadn't talked to her. Her name was Natasha Bizecuit, she was tall, and she had long brown hair and green eyes.

Cynthia entered her dormitory; there were three girls inside, Sarah Wolf, Amanda Finn and Monica Banana, the one from Brazil. 

"Hi" Cynthia said. Monica replied, "Hello". They had had dinner the previous day, together. The others also said a nearly inaudible "Hello". They didn't like what Cynthia did the previous day, all the other girls stayed up talking for several hours in the night and she fell asleep as if she didn't want to make friends there.

Cynthia didn't really know why she came there, she just wanted to go to the dormitories to check who was there, and she had to go to the Library before lunchtime...

"How're you doing?" she continued, she wanted to know more things about the other girls so that she'd have more friends, and yet there wasn't much...

"Well, yesterday we were talking about ourselves and our families so that we know more about the others but you preferred to sleep," said Amanda.

"Manda, please don't be so hard with her, she was tired, she told us she was tired," Monica tried to calm the conversation.

"No, she's right," Cynthia said, "If I didn't talk with you it's my fault. I could have been talking with you and I preferred to sleep, I wasn't very friendly..."

"I don't call it friendly, I call it Mummy's girl..."

"Manda!" Monica didn't want to put Cynthia angry.

"Okay, you may think what you want, I know I was very tired and that's enough to know it's not my entire fault. Well I have to go to the Library, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, see you then." Monica said.

Cynthia went out of the Common Room, looked at the portraits; neither of the people were there, only the sceneries in the background...

Cynthia walked to the Library, which was on the seventh floor. She noticed that there were stairs between the fourth and the sixth floors, the corridor to the fifth floor could be seen but couldn't be accessed apart from if someone jumped from the stairs, which wasn't a very good idea... Cynthia started thinking why they weren't allowed to go to the fifth floor, but she quickly continued walking, it was half past eleven and lunch would be at one o'clock p.m., and that wasn't much time to spend in one library... She loved to read; when she was younger she spent entire afternoons reading children's books. Perhaps she loved books because her grandfather was a writer, but he died several years ago, and as she started to be very sad when she thought about him, she tried to think about other people... 

She entered the Library; it was a large room with thousands of books, both old and new, and of different shapes, sizes and colors.

The librarian was a woman, who was no more than 26 years old; she was sitting behind a desk, full of books. She used green glasses, shaped like butterfly wings, which made her beautiful blue eyes seem not as beautiful as they were...

"Hello," Cynthia said, "May I have access to the books?"

"Sure, have you won some points?" said the librarian.

"No, I had no classes so far, do I have to exchange them to borrow books?"

"No, it depends on what book you want to borrow, well enjoy our Library and if you want a book, tell me and I'll tell you if it's necessary to exchange points or not..."

"Okay, thanks."

Cynthia turned and went near a bookcase that was plenty of History books. Quickly she realized that the book Captain Dolphin asked her to borrow must be borrowed when she got some points because a Dark Spells book like that one was shouldn't be borrowed for free...

"Er... Could you please tell me where the "Dark spells of medium difficulty" are, please?"

"Sure, it's in the restricted section... what do you want it for?"

Good. She told her she had no classes so far, she couldn't say it'd be for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class... or maybe she could.

"Oh, it's because I heard that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will talk about those spells in the first class, which is in two days, and I wanted to read it. Well, you will be sure I won't try to cast any spells from the book, I haven't even learnt how to cast a spell..."

"Okay, you're right but, well, it must be exchanged for some points won by you, and you haven't won any..."

"Oh," Cynthia said, "And how many points will I need to borrow it?"

"I'm not allowed to tell any student how many points you must have... sorry."

"Okay, no problem, I'll have to get enough points and, well, it must be in today's and tomorrow's classes..."

"I hope you can win them, remember also that it's a Dark Magic book... do you understand?"

Well, that was basically telling her that she needed a lot of points...

"I think so," Cynthia said, "I'll just start to get some." She winked her right eye, turned and sat down in a table where a first year girl she had seen studying in the common room, Natasha Bizecuit.

"Hi, Natasha," it seemed she knew her very well. She was doing that keeping in mind Captain Dolphin's statement "You may win points by helping other students in their homework..." the other looked at her.

"Hi, Cynthia." as she could see, Natasha also knew her name.

"May I help you?" 

"Sure" Natasha said, pulling out a chair so Cynthia could sit.

Cynthia quickly looked at the librarian, who smiled, understanding what she meant when she said, "I'll just start to get some". 

"What are you reading?" Cynthia asked.

"'Dragons Over Atlantic', it's a book about dragons, I want to know more about them as this year some of them must be moved to the Atlantic Islands, like this archipelago..."

"Well, I thought there weren't dragons right here and why must they move here?"

"Lately, some Muggles have seen them," Natasha replied sadly, "If we fail casting memory spells on them it will be the Chaos… "

"I see..." Cynthia said. After a while, she said, "And how can I help you?"

"I am searching for the habitat of the Peruvian Vipertooth, it's the breed that I think will come here, and I'm seeing if this is the proper habitat for them or not, and I don't think so..."

"Well, that's too bad..." Cynthia said, "I will check in another book, I'll be right back."

Cynthia took "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" from the bookcase. The librarian was staring at her, smiling.

Cynthia sat near Natasha; they were talking about dragons and their habitats for a while.

Finally they put the books back in the bookcases and prepared to go out of the Library.

The librarian called them.

"Yes?" Cynthia said. Natasha followed her near the librarian.

"Well, I saw that you helped her in her homework," she said.

"Oh, that's nothing." Cynthia smiled and it seemed she was telling the truth...

"Well, I'm thinking of giving you some points," the librarian told Cynthia.

"Oh, it's the first time I've won some points!"

"Yes," the librarian said, "Ten points to Dolphin!"

"Um, can you do that?" Natasha asked, she was much smarter than Cynthia and Cynthia had gotten some points before Natasha, she couldn't believe it...

"Well, as you did your homework here in the Library, who would give you the points? I'm here and I saw you worked for them..."

Natasha mumbled, Cynthia was thankful, and they went out of the Library...

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Artio walked through those corridors and stairs and couldn't find the way to go to the Great Hall; she simply walked and entered several rooms. When she realized that wouldn't get her anywhere, she simply went out. 

Finally she found a bathroom. She went inside, and it was big…

When she turned the corner in the bathroom she screamed "AAHHH!!"

There was a creature right there who scared her, she didn't expect anyone inside the bathroom and there was a girl-ghost. She was crying.

"Um, hello" Artio said.

"Sniff, hi, I didn't want to scare you, sorry, sniff" she said.

"Well, it wasn't your fault, I just didn't expect anyone here and that's why I screamed..."

"Okay, next time you don't need to be scared, I'm here every day."

"What? Why are you crying? Do you live here?"

"Yes, I live here, well I simply don't live... I have no friends"

"Why?" Artio asked.

"I am a ghost, I'm not a real girl..."

"I am new here, I haven't got any friends either..."

"Oh, big deal, you'll find some soon," said the ghost.

"Well, we could be friends. I'm Artio Sperios."

"Everyone knows me as Moaning Myrtle... thanks for being sweet, but you'll forget me soon."

"I won't, we can be friends, if we try... I can tell you about me and my life, and you can tell me about yourself, Hogwarts..."

Artio quickly told her about everything except Gilbert Stormd'sky, even about Jeremy. Moaning Myrtle simply listened quietly, and at the end she opened her mouth.

"What a story," she was crying, "I'd like to be loved that way... I loved a boy, we had a relationship but then I died, and even though I was a ghost, he didn't want to see me again."

"Oh, I'm sorry for bringing it up." Artio said.

"No problem, he's dead now, too..." 

"I also don't clearly remember how I came to the Great Hall, I just remember when I was near the gate and then Professor Snape was asking me about my father, with a big man, Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys..."

They were talking for a while and then Artio realized that lunchtime was some hours ago, it was afternoon, and she was hungry...

The Moaning Myrtle told her how to get to the Great Hall, which she did, wanting to get something to eat. 

There was no one in the Common Room, except a house-elf who was cleaning the tables. He was scared when Artio entered the room.

"Ah!" he screamed, and ran out of the room.

"Sorry for scaring you," Artio said, "I didn't want to do it."

He wasn't there anymore, at least Artio couldn't see him, but she kept apologizing, "Come here, I won't hurt you, I won't bite you, I won't tell anyone I saw you."

But he didn't come. Instead, when Artio turned, there was a plate full of food. She was delighted with the food.

Some minutes later she was in the fields, and there were dark clouds in the sky. Artio walked to the Lake. 

She sat in a shadow of a tree; there were many animals near and in the Lake.

She fell asleep and when she woke up, it was sundown, and the new students were arriving...

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Cynthia had lunch with some girls of her year, Natasha, who had been with her the entire morning, Monica, the Brazilian girl, Sarah and Amanda.

They weren't very sympathetic earlier but now they seemed to forget that...

They'd gotten to the Charms classroom, in the Dungeons, which were with Professor Josh Darkwater, the captain of the Shark house.

When they entered the room, Professor Darkwater was already inside. He said, "Welcome to your first class, Dolphins, and your second one, Whales!"

They'd have that class with Whale house first years, of which there were few.

"In this first class we'll talk about Charms history..." the professor began "Does anyone know where the name "Charms" comes from?"

"I do," Cynthia said, she was determined to win more points, "It is from the medieval age, isn't it?"

"No, Ms. Tropelt, no." said the Professor "What've you been doing all the morning? You should have read the first pages of the book, at least those if you didn't want to read it entirely, it's obvious, it's right there on the first paragraph, five points from Dolphin!"

Cynthia was sad, it wasn't her obligation to read the book before the classes! That wasn't fair, the points she'd won in the morning were lost in the afternoon: near the end of the class she opened one more time her mouth and professor Josh took more five points from Dolphin house...

When the class ended, Cynthia couldn't believe it, that was torture; she shouldn't have opened her mouth!

The rest of the afternoon she passed in the fields, the girls were watching the Dolphin's Quidditch team training. In their opinion there were some handsome boys on the team...

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Artio woke up and went inside the castle, it was sunset and the students were arriving at Hogwarts.

The sky was very dark, like a stormy day... When Artio entered the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick asked her "Where were you? We've been searching for you since the afternoon! Go, go sit at the Ravenclaw Table."

She sat there, at the same time the door of the Common Room opened and several students entered. With the confusion, no one noticed she'd been there before they entered, nor that she didn't come on the Hogwarts Express...

The tables were full of students in a few minutes; she was sitting between a Chinese girl, older than Artio, and a boy who seemed to be a second year.

The others were talking to people Artio figured they knew, and finally the Chinese girl said "Hello! I'm Cho Chang, who are you?"

"Um, hi, I'm Artio Sperios..."

"Oh, are you new here? I don't remember you..."

"Yes, it's my first day here at Hogwarts, I came from Lusitania, a magical academy in Azores, Portugal... I was sorted in this morning, I entering the fourth year, and although I don't know how to do the easiest spell because in Lusitania first years are fourteen..."

"Oh, so you are the "special case" as they call it?"

"Special case?" Artio asked, "What do you mean, I don't know about anything..."

"Well, the Professors asked me to help you in classes, since I had good marks last year."

"So you'll help me? Good!"

Cho would have replied but the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore started talking, wishing everyone a good year and those normal things at the beginning of a new year... 

It was thundering, the sky of the Great Hall had a spell on it, which made it look like the sky outside, although it didn't rain, or hail like the real sky did.

The sound was terrible and when there was a thunder the Great Hall was illuminated, which scared Artio.

Some minutes later, a new professor, who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts as Professor Dumbledore had said, entered the room. His name was Mad Eye Moody.

His face was full of scars and he had a brown normal eye while the other was blue and bigger, which was looking for other things the first didn't... He was scary!

Artio had a strange feeling, it seemed to her that Mad Eye Moody looked at her with his blue eye, and it seemed like he smiled at her.

"Er, Cho, I... I heard about Harry Potter, is he studying here? Can you tell me who he is?"

"Oh, the phenomenon, the boy who lived... yes, sure, he's that guy right there, at the Gryffindor Table."

Artio looked at him, a black haired boy who used glasses, the one who defeated the Dark Lord thirteen years ago, when he was just a baby... He was talking with a boy and a girl happily.

He looked up, in the direction of the Ravenclaw Table, to the place Artio was. 

"He's looking at me," Cho said.

At that moment Artio saw the scar on the middle of his forehead, it was that scar what made him special, it was the proof of his battle with Voldemort.

At the same moment Artio felt a shock of pain in her left arm.

She looked at it to see what had happened, on her arm she could see an image of a snake. She hid the image beneath clothes, not even Cho saw it, and it disappeared when Harry looked away...

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

In the next chapter: What was that snake on Artio's arm? Was it caused by Harry Potter looking at her or it was just coincidence? And Cynthia? Will she get enough points to borrow the dark magic book? Jeremy and Artio don't know anything about the spell, but will they find out? And who had cast the spell on them? And why? Discover these and other things in chapter eight.

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****

Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and **post reviews here**.

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	8. The Glumbumble

**Title:** Lusitania (8)  
**Author name:** siriuswhite  
**Author email:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com  
**Category:** Romance  
**Sub Category:** Mystery  
**Keywords:** Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA  
**Summary:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Queenkakia, Gemma, Nentari, ElfinKat, Mary and Lil hermie girl! 

Special thanks to my beta-readers Jo, Lilly Jackson and Trinity Black.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Lusitania 

BY S I R I U S   W H I T E

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

EIGHTH CHAPTER 

THE GLUMBUMBLE 

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

At the same moment Artio felt a shock of pain in her left arm.

She looked at it to see what had happened, on her arm she could see an image of a snake. She hid the image beneath her clothes, not even Cho saw it, and it disappeared when Harry looked away...

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Cho looked at Artio. At the moment Cho was asking Artio something, Dumbledore sat up and started talking about the events that would happen that year. 

He let them know that this year the Triwizard tournament would be held at Hogwarts, and therefore, the Quidditch Cup would not be played for this year.

Quickly Artio realized that Cho didn't like the idea very much... 

"I don't like this. I prefer Quidditch one thousand times more!"

"Well, maybe it'd be good, think on it from another angle..." Artio tried to calm Cho.

"How? Do you anything good coming from this Triwizard Tournament?" Said Cho.

"We'll meet new people, from other schools, and that's good!"

"Is it?" asked Cho, "I am a seeker, I must train, I want to be a Professional Quidditch Player and if I stop training I will lose some of my skills."

"I know. But you can practice, I think you can practice, at least on weekends and in the holidays..."

It would be a difficult task for Artio to try and convince Cho that the Triwizard Tournament was a good thing.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Cynthia walked to the third floor, she needed to talk to Captain Dolphin in his office, and she didn't have much time, students had to be in the dormitories before eleven o'clock and it was getting late.

She knocked at the door and entered when a "Come in" was heard.

"How are you?" Asked Captain Dolphin when she entered his office.

"I'm good, thanks. I..."

"What?"

Cynthia stared at him. Normally she didn't fail; she had done what she had to do almost every time. She didn't know how to act now.

"I couldn't do it, I didn't win enough points."

"Oh, that?" He said, "I didn't tell you anything, but I almost knew that you wouldn't get it... You'd have to get the most points ever seen. That's not a problem. Don't worry."

"I'm sorry but I did my best..." She told him about the points she had won, which were lost later.

"Professor Josh Darkwater is that way, he doesn't like Dolphin students... many things have happened." He explained.

"And what can I do now?" She asked.

She wanted to fix the errors of her ways.

"Well, as you know we can only cast the spell when you've learnt how to do it. And I can't teach you, if I did it, it wouldn't work. You must learn by yourself. When you get enough points you'll borrow the book and you'll learn how to cast your spell."

"It will take too long, Artio may be in danger."

"It depends on you." He said. The calm expression he ever had was gone, his eyes started to turn darker than they were. "I can't help you with your knowledge! You may find other ways to get it, that's the only thing I can tell you. Now I have many things to do." He looked at a watch. 

Cynthia understood the Captain's clear message; go away.

"Well" She said, "I'll see you tomorrow night during the Astronomy class."

She went out of the room, he didn't say anything. She had never seen Captain Dolphin that way before, he seemed like he couldn't be outsmarted, but he could.

When she went out, Anaras was coming in that direction but she turned in the corner of a corridor and Cynthia thought she hadn't seen her. 

Quickly she walked to the Dolphin Common Room, only Rosan was there. 

"Hi," Rosan said, "You OK?"

"Hi, I'm tired..."

"Oh, I know what that's like... hurry up, it is late, the caretaker mustn't see you up..."

Cynthia took her wand and wrote the password on the wall, between the two portraits. A door opened and she entered the Dolphin Common Room. 

Inside there weren't many people up, only some third year boys.

She walked to her dormitory; all the other girls were already there.

"Cynthia!" Monica said, "Where were you? It's late."

"Yes, I know, I had to go to... Captain Dolphin wanted to talk to me."

"What?" Said the Brazilian girl "Do you have any problems?"

"No, he just wanted to tell me about Artio, the girl who went to the other school."

"Oh, I didn't know her..." 

Cynthia went to her bed; in her bag there was a book. She took it and went outside their dormitory, "I'll be right back," she said.

She put the book on one of the desks in the common room and took a quill that was for anyone's use.

It was a Diary. Cynthia didn't usually feel any need to write in a Diary. But suddenly she was full of things and the way she found to return to her normal state was to confide in the parchment of the book.

_Sitnalta Island, Lusitania Academy, 1st September 1994._

_Dear Diary,_

_This is the first time I use your parchment._

_My sister Carmen was right when she bought you for me, she said I'd need you, and she was right._

_I want to tell someone all the things I have in my mind. It'd be better to use a pensieve, but as I don't have one…_

_ Everything began three days ago. Artio talked to me because she wanted to find Strimmy, something she thought could be an animal._

_Oh, I forgot you haven't ever seen her. I must describe what she looks like; maybe I will need that description if I don't see her again..._

_She's a blonde haired girl, blue eyes... well, actually I don't know if they're blue or green, it's a mix of the two colours. Her eyes tend to hypnotise us, they're beautiful, I'd like my eyes to be like that! She's a normal girl, tall... well, I'm taller than her._

_She's a bit ingénue; I think she's very fragile, which brings a lot of problems to her life._

_She told me about everything. Today I still don't know why she did that, she confides a lot in people she doesn't know..._

_She was a target of some kind of spell, a Dark Spell, I don't know why..._

_Patrick was something that cast the spell on her, in fact Patrick was in Jeremy Craig's body, a boy in the first year, just like Artio and I._

_Jeremy told Artio that he wanted to find her. The way she had to contact him was via Strimmy, and that's why she got to know me._

_When we went to Laxus we found Jeremy and his friend, Walter. Artio and Jeremy went outside and in the Ship she told me they had kissed._

_They kissed!_

_Jeremy is a handsome guy. I think he's the most gorgeous boy of all the first years. He's got soft brown hair, and it's long, not very long, just longer than the other boys'... his black eyes seem to take us into the night even when the sun is shining on a summer day._

_But they're in love. Artio Sperios and Jeremy Craig, the perfect pairing!_

_Artio's parents divorced, and that's where all trouble began. _

_Artio's away from here, her father wanted Artio to go live with him in London._

_She sent me a letter saying she'd go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I must reply to her owl._

_She asked me to tell Jeremy that she loved him, and he was angry because she didn't say anything to him. She hasn't told him that she was going away._

_Then I talked to him and it was me who heard his sadness. _

_I am angry, I haven't said anything else to Jeremy since yesterday afternoon._

_I think... I must apologize to him, I have no reason to be angry, we must be friends, and I'd like to talk to him like... _

_Friends._

_Do you think Artio will be angry if she knows that Jeremy and I are seeing each other?_

_Well, we aren't. Forget that._

_Captain Dolphin asked me to cast a group spell on Jeremy. Captain Dolphin and I will cast two different spells. He said that Jeremy would be sleeping for some days._

_He doesn't know about Artio and Jeremy being in love. I won't tell him..._

_I have to learn how to cast the spell by myself. I have to find it in a book, at the Library. For that I need points, which I don't have... Oh this is driving me crazy! I have to help Artio, she can't be controlled by the person who cast the spell on her and Jeremy. She may be in danger._

_Today I failed. Maybe that's the reason why I let you know all these things. Captain Dolphin wasn't the same person as he was on other days. I've never seen him that way before._

_I must get those points as soon as possible. _

_I will write an owl to Artio. _

_Tomorrow I will let you know how my day was. _

_Thanks for letting me explain my thoughts._

_Cynthia T._

Cynthia took her eyes away from the book. She closed it. Its green cover was old, it seemed as though it had been three hundred years old when it was made.

Cynthia wrote at least seven pages in the diary. She simply imagined that it was a person, a friend, who wouldn't tell her secrets to anyone.

She took some other parchment and wrote a quick letter to Artio. She'd send it by one of the school's owls.

Now she was tired, all the other girls had fallen asleep as she was writing her diary in her bed. The others couldn't see what she'd been doing; the curtains of the bed were thick enough that they couldn't see through them.

Cynthia fell asleep.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

In the morning Cynthia and the some of the other first year Dolphin girls went downstairs to have breakfast. 

When they finished, Cynthia told Monica that she'd go to the owlery, so Monica could tell Professor Slibel, if she was late to Transfiguration.

Cynthia put the letter on a black owl, with green eyes. She stared at it flying off, until she couldn't see it anymore.

The owl would arrive many hours later at Hogwarts, where a group of fourth year Ravenclaws were talking with Artio.

"Sperios?" Said a red haired girl, "I haven't heard that name, I don't think I know your family."

"Yes" Artio agreed, "Most of my family lives in Portugal, I lived there until last week, when I went to Lusitania. Then I found out that my parents had divorced and I came here to live with my father."

They were going to the fields, the first class would be Flying, with Madam Hooch, who had yellow eyes.

The grass was cold, in Britain the night was much colder than in Portugal, where the sun shone on almost all days and September was a very hot month although it was the beginning of autumn. It was summer still, Artio thought, imagining how it'd be in Lusitania Academy. Lost on those thoughts Artio followed the other Ravenclaws and they'd arrived near the flying coach.

"Welcome to another year!" She said, smiling, "I hope you've trained in the holiday time. As I think you already know, there is a new student in our class. Her name is Artio Sperios."

Suddenly all the others looked at Artio.

She didn't do anything, and Professor Hooch continued.

"Well, you'll be throwing and catching the quaffle as I'm going to teach Artio how to fly and see what she has to learn. Artio come here, please."

The others took their brooms and went up into the sky, which had some clouds.

"Do you know how to fly?" Asked Madame Hooch.

"Yes," Artio replied, "My father taught me three years ago, I know how to fly although I don't practice much..."

"Good," The woman opened a box and let a red ball, the quaffle, come out. "Catch it!" she said.

"Up!" Artio said, and the broom left the grass and stopped at her hand. She mounted the broom and flew up into the air.

She turned a few times, flew up and down and finally caught the quaffle. She got back to the grass.

"Good, you'd be a good chaser..." Madame Hooch let a black ball come out, it was a bludger. She gave Artio a stick and she went away following the bludger. It wasn't hard; the black ball just came flying in her direction. When it was near her broom, Artio beat the ball and it went away.

When she came down again, Madame Hooch exclaimed "Not bad too!"

The Snitch test was easy too, although Artio took a bit more time than the other balls, but she scored quickly. Madam Hooch was surprised.

"Artio, I didn't know you were so good at flying! That last catch was fantastic! Cho Chang, our actual seeker, is a bit better than you. I'll think to have a test between the two of you to decide who takes the seeker position! Although this year we don't have the Quidditch cup, you may train and be part of the team next year."

"My father played Quidditch" Artio explained, "He taught me some things and well, that's the secret..." she smiled, she was happy for being good in one subject. She didn't know how the other classes would be; she'd never been in a school like that.

She joined the other students catching the quaffle, it was easy to her, and the morning passed quite quickly.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

The Transfiguration class, in the morning, wasn't very boring although Professor Slibel passed the entire class talking about class rules.

Cynthia won ten points during the class, she knew about the remote origins of Transfiguration. Natasha Bizecuit scored eight points so far, and she was bored because she knew that she was much smarter than Cynthia.

Cynthia had lunch with her friends, they were almost a group of friends, it was made up of Cynthia, Monica, Natasha, Ariane, Amanda and Sarah.

"Cynthia," said Amanda, the girl who didn't like Cynthia very much that night, but now she seemed to forget everything, "You like animals very much, right?"

Ariane raised an eyebrow and listed attentively, interested, she liked animals too.

"Yes... why?" Asked Cynthia, who didn't understand why she was asking that.

"Yesterday night, I woke up and I saw a Glumbumble in our dormitory, near your bed, and I caught it for you, I thought you'd like to have one." She showed a bottle with a grey insect inside, it was flying happily although it would have liked to be outside. There was a small nettle inside the bottle, the Glumbumbles ate those plants.

"Cool!" Cynthia said, she'd like to have more animals, Chintz ran away when Cynthia came to the academy, her cats were living somewhere outside, maybe in the owlery, "I like insects, I like the way they're so complex while they're so small too, it seems impossible to have such a complex animal with this size..." She took the bottle, and Amanda was happy for giving Cynthia a gift, that was a kind of apology for being a bit mad with her the other night.

"I'm glad you liked it," said Amanda Finn.

"Thanks!" Cynthia said. Ariane walked to the place where Monica was, she sat between Cynthia and Monica, and started talking to the owner of the Glumbumble about that strange insect.

That day Cynthia went to the Library for the second time since she arrived at the academy, she had not enough points yet, she knew it, but she went there just to talk with the librarian. Cynthia had a good opinion of the librarian, she thought she could be a good person and could teach Cynthia some interesting things about books, she must be the person who knew more about books than everyone else in the academy. Cynthia would like to learn some of those things, and the way of getting what she wanted was being her friend.

"Good afternoon," Cynthia said to the librarian, "How are you?"

The librarian smiled, "Oh, isn't it our new fast points winner? I'm fine, thanks."

"Well I had no luck..." Cynthia explained, "Well, what's your name, I can't just call you 'the librarian'"

"I'm Anastacia Saroupolis, call me Tacy" she said, it seemed she also liked Cynthia.

"Tacy, okay, I'm Cynthia," 

"I know." Said Tacy, "I mean, I've heard your name, your friend called you..." she had a strange necessity of explaining, which Cynthia didn't understand, but she didn't pay attention.

"Well, I have scored ten points," Cynthia said, she knew they weren't enough.

"Ten? So you didn't win any more points during the classes?" 

"No, Professor Josh Darkwater took ten points from me, I only scored ten points in the Transfiguration class..."

They were talking for about two hours, Tacy let Cynthia know that she had to get much more points, but she didn't desperate.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

The rest of the afternoon was passed in the Dungeons, Artio and the other Ravenclaws were having Potions with Professor Severus Snape.

The other students told her that Snape didn't like non-Slytherin students, he was always taking points from the other houses' students, including the Ravenclaws.

"You must bring your cauldron to the class, we'll keep them in our classroom, you won't need them in any other class..."

Some minutes later, the Ravenclaw house had twenty points taken from them when they entered the Dungeon...

Artio didn't know why but when he talked to her, he was a completely different person, he was a sweet man, his words were soft.

Cho Chang was in the Ravenclaw Common Room; she said she'd help Artio doing her homework.

Artio entered the room after the Potions class, the other students were unhappy, Professor Snape had taken many points from the Ravenclaw house. Artio wasn't affected by that points stealing wave, and the other students started to look at her in a different manner.

"Artio!" exclaimed Cho Chang, "Professor Hooch told me that you would be a good seeker!"

No, Artio thought, Cho Chang would be sad, Artio could take her position on the Quidditch team; certainly she didn't like the idea...

"Yes, I... I won't accept to train with you, you're much better than me, don't worry, you are definitely the Ravenclaw seeker."

"No, I want to train with you!" Cho said.

"What?" Artio didn't understand.

"Yes, this year we won't have the Quidditch cup, the way we have to play Quidditch is training for the seeker position, you must accept Professor Hooch's proposal."

"But..."

"Please, Artio, let's train, I want to play Quidditch. The best one will win!"

Artio was surprised. In fact she liked the idea of being part of the Quidditch team, but she didn't want to start a war with Cho Chang for the position. She liked Fair Play.

"Well, I'm in charge of the students who will help you. I'm tutoring Potions, okay?"

"How many people will teach me?" Artio asked, interested.

"I'm teaching Potions, flying and Charms. Well, I think I won't teach you how to fly..." she grinned, "Michael Cloud will help you in Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration, Andrew Malton is in charge of History of Magic and Herbology and finally, Cedric Diggory will help you in Astronomy and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Are they all Ravenclaws?" Artio asked.

"No, Cedric is a Hufflepuff, Michael is Slytherin and Andrew is a Gryffindor. Hermione Granger was supposed to help you in History of Magic but she's a fourth year Gryffindor and so the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore didn't tell anything to her as she's in the same year as you."

"Good. I hope I can learn faster so that I will be a fifth year and not a fourth..."

"Let's start, what did you learn in Potions today?" Asked Cho.

"Nothing special, Professor Snape just reminded us of the rules and other such things, he talked about the History of Potions a bit, just for my own interest."

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

After dinner, Cynthia went to find Jeremy. 

"Jeremy, I want to talk to you," she said.

"What?" He was smiling, he'd been joking with someone, the other boys were also grinning, "Okay."

He stood up and they walked outside the castle. Although they had already had dinner, the sun was still visible, the sun would set soon.

They sat in the grass.

"What?" He asked.

"I want to tell you that I have nothing to do with you and Artio's problems, I have no reason to be angry with you." she was determined.

"Good, I also think so." He said, he looked down to the grass; "I've tried not to think about her." the happiness that Cynthia saw in his eyes inside the castle when he was with the other boys was there no more.

"Jeremy, have you sent an owl to her?" Cynthia asked.

"Why me?" He said, "she's the one who is gone and I have to send her an owl? She is the one who must send me an owl explaining everything. I know that we're young and that the only thing that happened was a simple kiss. But I feel that she's the girl of my life, I really love her."

"Jeremy, one of you must do it first, you both can't just wait until the other sends an owl. If you think that way she may also think the same way and so you'll never see each other again."

"You're right, but it's her duty to let me know how she is."

"No, it's your duty too. I know she loves you too, but she isn't sure if you are certain of your feelings, I think that's the problem. Try to understand, her parents divorced, she's sad. Please, Jeremy, send her an owl."

"Okay, I'll think about it," finally he agreed.

"Good." Cynthia nodded; she wanted to tell him about the spell. But she wasn't authorized. She had to control her will; she knew that if she told him the spell wouldn't work. 

"I'll forget our discussion the other day, we must be friends, Artio needs our friendship above all." said Jeremy.

"That's why I came." Cynthia said.

"I'll write a letter to her," he said, "And I'll do it now. Cynthia," he stood up, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay" she said, happy, he finally listened to her, "I'll be here for a while."

He went away and entered the castle.

The sunset was magnificent! Cynthia had never seen a sunset like that, the sun was reflected in the dark blue water of the sea.

She took the bottle, which contained the Glumbumble. She opened the bottle, Cynthia didn't like animals in prisons. 

The insect flew out of the bottle and didn't fly away as Cynthia thought it would do.

Instead, it stopped in the grass, about one meter away from her.

Suddenly the animal started growing, Cynthia was scared and prepared to stand up and ran away. But she didn't, she realised that it was an Animagi.

A blonde woman with beautiful blue-green eyes stared at Cynthia.

"Finally you released me from that prison!" She exclaimed.

She was dressed with a long soft purple dress, with short sleeves, she'd certainly come from a hot place, she was dressed for a summer day. On her left arm an image of a skull could be seen. 

Cynthia looked at the strange woman who was arranging her clothes, "Who are you?".

Before the woman replied to Cynthia's question, she turned her head and looked into Cynthia's eyes. Cynthia felt a cold shiver down her back.

Read? Review!

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Next Chapter: Who is the woman who transformed from a simple Glumbumble? What was that skull on her arm? Is she going to hurt Cynthia? And Jeremy? Will he really write the letter to Artio? Do you think Artio will adapt to the new school and class methods? See you in the next chapter! ;)

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Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and **post reviews ****here**.

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	9. Revelations

Title: Lusitania (9)  
  
Author name: siriuswhite  
  
Author email: siriuswhite@schnoogle.com  
  
Category: Romance  
  
Sub Category: Mystery  
  
Keywords: Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA  
  
Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?  
  
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
  
Author notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Nentari, Hotpepper567, Aisling Kinsella and Elfinkat.  
  
Thanks to my beta-readers, Freda Potter and Jo, for their extremely good work and some extra inspiring sessions which I haven't paid yet. You're the best!  
  
  
  
  
  
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Lusitania  
  
  
  
  
  
BY S I R I U S W H I T E  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
NINTH CHAPTER  
  
REVELATIONS  
  
  
  
  
  
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The strange woman was dressed with a long soft purple dress, with short sleeves, she'd certainly come from a hot place, she was dressed for a summer's day. On her left arm an image of a skull could be seen.  
  
Cynthia looked at the strange woman who was arranging her clothes. "Who are you?"  
  
Before the woman replied to Cynthia's question, she turned her head and looked into Cynthia's eyes. Cynthia felt a cold shiver down her back.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
"Who am I?" asked the woman herself, and repeated, "Who am I...?"  
  
Cynthia finally stood up, the woman was scary, it seemed that she was the master of something. Cynthia was looking at her although none of them said a word, they simply continued looking each other for a while. The woman was incredibly like Artio, the same blonde hair and blue-green eyes, Cynthia knew it, but didn't make any comment about that coincidence...  
  
Cynthia finally broke the silence, "Um... When did you learn to be an Animagus?" it was the most stupid question a person could ask at that moment but, anyway, she did ask it.  
  
"Some years ago, when I was a student, at Durmstrang." the woman seemed to understand it was a stupid question, yes, but she didn't say what she thought, she simply answered naturally.  
  
"Oh, did you study at Durmstrang?" Cynthia asked. The question was less stupid now. Cynthia grinned, but outside, she kept her face blank.  
  
Both Cynthia and the Glumbumble-woman stared at each other, standing up, but not moving.  
  
"Yes, I studied in many schools." the woman seemed to put away her master- of-something expression, she moved for the first time, walking in Cynthia's direction. They had been about three meters apart, and Cynthia prepared to walk back but as she realized that the woman just stopped near the tree, she didn't put her foot back.  
  
"Bad behaviour?" Cynthia guessed a reason for studying in so many schools. Cynthia herself went near the woman, who sat on the grass, near the tree, her back against the tree and she relaxed.  
  
"Something around those lines, yes." the Glumbumble-woman replied, Cynthia couldn't sit near her because the tree wasn't very large, she simply sat on the grass some half-meter away from the woman.  
  
"Where did you go?" asked Cynthia. She knew, for some reason, that the woman wouldn't hurt her. No, she wasn't a bad person. Her expression when she transformed from the Glumbumble was quite far from her actual one.  
  
The sunset had been some minutes ago and some stars started to be seen in the dark blue sky, there were no clouds. Jupiter was looking at them. Cynthia liked Astronomy very much too, her father had taught her many things about stars, planets, galaxies, life and black-holes, and these last ones were his speciality.  
  
"I studied in Durmstrang in the first half of my-second year. Then I came to Lusitania, where I stayed until the end of my fifth year. Hogwarts was where I finally graduated, I studied there for my sixth and seventh year."  
  
"Three schools," Cynthia said, "Not that much." Cynthia was not as scared as before, obviously she uncomfortable with the new woman, but they both talked to each other trying to forget that they didn't know each other.  
  
"Three schools, but much more trouble." Nostalgic, the woman felt nostalgic, Cynthia understood it.  
  
Cynthia didn't reply; they were better acquainted now. She suddenly remembered about the Astronomy class, which would start soon, at half past nine. It was in about eight minutes, as she checked on her watch.  
  
"That girl found me near your bed yesterday night." the Glumbumble-woman said calmly, some uncertainty in her voice.  
  
"Who? Amanda?" Cynthia asked. She knew that it was Amanda; she didn't know why she asked that.  
  
"Yes, the one who caught me, she almost saw me as a human..."  
  
"I knew it, she told me she'd found you in our dormitory." Cynthia nodded.  
  
"Yes, I was searching for you," she said.  
  
"Me?" asked Cynthia, who hadn't ever seen that woman in her life and so she didn't understand why she was searching for her.  
  
"Yes, I know you are Artio's best friend."  
  
"Oh," Cynthia nodded, "So you came here because of Artio... do you know her?"  
  
"Yes," the woman's eyes became a sad colour, "I..."  
  
"What? Any bad news from her?"  
  
"I'm her... mother." the woman, who was looking down, looked at Cynthia who opened her mouth.  
  
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that. She was shocked, what she heard about that woman make Cynthia hate her from the moment that she said who she was.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Hogwarts was beautiful that night; there were two moons, one in the sky and other in the Lake. Artio was observing the outside from a window, in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She was thinking about Patrick. Then she remembered he was Jeremy.  
  
Above all, she was in love with Patrick, not with Jeremy. She knew they were both the same person, with some changes, and Patrick was the bad guy. But Patrick was also the one she fell in love with.  
  
Artio knew that Jeremy was an adorable person, she liked him much, and she kissed him.  
  
But when she did, she didn't think on him as the real Jeremy but as the fictional Patrick.  
  
And he didn't send her any owls, she thought sadly, maybe he was one more of those many boys who kiss every girl.  
  
That was the only way to explain the fact that he hadn't written her a single letter.  
  
And her father? Was he all right out there in London in a Muggle area? Artio thought he was crazy to live in a Muggle area, where he could not use any magic.  
  
Cho called her back to reality.  
  
Reality, what was that?  
  
"Artio," Cho had a quill on her hand, she was sitting on a chair in the Common Room, and she was doing some extra homework, or just writing a letter.  
  
"Hum..." Artio stopped looking outside at the two moons, and turned her head to look for Cho, "Oh, what is it?"  
  
"You are flying too high, you may fall, so I called you to come back," she said.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I was thinking on many things out of this room," Artio agreed and came near the desk where Cho was writing.  
  
"Writing a letter, or homework?" She knew that Cho was determined to win the most points ever seen, Ravenclaw must be the House Cup Champion this year, she had told Artio some hours ago.  
  
"Letter," Cho replied, but didn't stop writing.  
  
"For him?" Artio asked, smiling, and waited a positive reply.  
  
"Maybe I can give this to him someday."  
  
Although they met each other only a day ago, Artio and Cho were like best friends, they knew each other's secrets, at least almost of them. Artio herself didn't hide any of her important secrets, she told Cho everything.  
  
"You can, I'm sure," Artio smiled, she'd like to see Cho happy, and that meant that she'd have to be in love with her beloved boy.  
  
"Forget that, now, what were you thinking about?" asked Cho, who already knew the answer.  
  
Artio also knew that, "Don't you really have a clue?" she asked smartly.  
  
"Jeremy, for sure."  
  
"And my father, too."  
  
"Some conclusions?" Cho asked.  
  
"None," Artio thought about his black eyes, how she had been lost in their darkness, and how good it was.  
  
"What if we went to bed?" Cho stood up from the desk and held a yellowed piece of parchment in her hand, "Tomorrow will be another day, girl, just be patient."  
  
"Yeah, it might be better, let's sleep." Artio agreed and both she and Cho went to their own dormitories.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
"Cynthia, listen to me, please." Artio's mother asked Cynthia to calm down.  
  
"I... How do you even think about talking to me?" Cynthia had been put out of her wits, "Isn't it enough what you've done with Artio and Mr. Archibald?"  
  
"I know, you're right. The divorce... it's my entire fault, I know, but I had no choice. Now I know I was wrong, and..." she stopped and after a deep breath she only said, "You need to go to your Astronomy class, Robin is waiting for you and he will be disappointed if you don't go."  
  
"No," Cynthia still didn't believe the blonde woman, "I want you to explain why you're here after everything you did. One class won't be the end."  
  
"It may be. Trust me, it's better for you to go to the class for now. Go!" the woman didn't wait for Cynthia to answer, also because she knew that Cynthia wouldn't accept the idea and wouldn't go. The woman changed to her Animagus shape, and a Glumbumble flew away from the wet grass.  
  
"Robin? Who's Robin?" Cynthia thought, and her eyes followed the little animal disappear behind a tree.  
  
She passed in the dormitory to get the bag with her stuff, including some sky charts, which were required for the Astronomy Class.  
  
Some minutes later she was waiting with the other Dolphins at the door of the Astronomy classroom, on the seventh floor.  
  
Captain Dolphin appeared at the floor some time later. Cynthia knew that she shouldn't tell Captain Dolphin about Artio's mother, although the woman hadn't asked her that.  
  
The students entered the classroom and sat down, some of them, as Natasha Bizecuit and Marysia Anderson, ran to inside the room because they wanted to get the best desks...  
  
"Good evenings," began Captain Dolphin, "Tonight you'll be introduced to the Astronomy subject, which is also a science for Muggles. Both communities are interested in this matter; this is the one that allows us to search for life on other planets. Astronomy is also important because of the many prophecies inspired on the movements of the planets and stars in the sky." he walked through the classroom looking for someone with a special interest. It seemed he had found one boy interested, his eyes were shining whether Captain Dolphin talked about the origins of Astronomy. It was the Brazilian boy, Carlos Filteg.  
  
"Which planet is the most brilliant in the sky?" asked Captain Dolphin.  
  
Quickly, the boy raised her hand and with Captain's order, he said, naturally, "Jupiter."  
  
"Very well, I see you've been studying," said the professor, proudly.  
  
"No, I knew it from many years ago," explained Carlos.  
  
"Do you? Good, I'm glad that boys of your age are interested on this majestic subject, five points for the Dolphin House for your answer."  
  
One hour and forty minutes later Cynthia and the other Dolphins were entering the common room between the two portraits, who were both sleeping.  
  
  
  
Cynthia didn't like the Astronomy class very much. It might be because of Captain Dolphin's attitude the previous day, for her, he wasn't the same admirable person anymore.  
  
Cynthia couldn't put away the idea of Artio's mother being in the academy, but now she couldn't do anything, she didn't know where the Glumbumble had flown to.  
  
All the girls went to their own beds, Cynthia knew they wouldn't sleep; they would talk until the sunrise, and only then they'd sleep.  
  
Cynthia thought it'd be good for her to talk with them. They sat on Monica and Amanda's beds, which were side by side, and would be easy to everyone to listen their stories. Quickly Cynthia understood that they were relating stories of their past.  
  
Monica had many weird stories, all about the Brazilian forest, the Amazon.  
  
"I fell into the river and then," she made some suspense, not saying any thing for some seconds, all the other girls were listening attentively, "and when I woke up I was in a Muggle Hospital!"  
  
"Ooh!" said some girls, disgusted.  
  
"Yeah, they didn't know how I had gone to the river, they said I'd been found by a tourist, who had a boat, and brought me there. The most complicated was to get back to home, I ran away from the Hospital and I found a Muggle city... it was night and I was fascinated by the lights they had on the streets, they call it electricity..."  
  
Amanda interrupted her, "Monica, let me tell you my story, and then you'll know what is a scary one."  
  
"Oh no, let me finish mine!" asked Monica, "Next will come the most interesting part..."  
  
"You continue it tomorrow, you've told us many... every story you relate us ends with you and 'the most beautiful boy on the Earth' kissing!" Amanda changed her expression and announced; "Now I'll let you know why I want... Revenge!"  
  
The other girls looked at her and imagined like if they were living everything.  
  
Cynthia was also interested, but still she couldn't think about anything else but Artio's mother. Why was she there? Perhaps it would've been better if Cynthia had told Captain Dolphin about her. When she was deep on these thoughts, Amanda's voice was higher and she remembered about the story."...Grandparents, You-Know-Who was away but his followers still have a mission to accomplish..." some more suspense.  
  
"What?" asked Natasha, excitedly.  
  
"Killed... my parents!  
  
"Aaaahh!" they screamed.  
  
"It was true, they had that mission. It was December, it was very cold," she was moving her hands, drawing the scenario in the air, "I was with my cousins and my uncle John, we had gone to the shop to buy our Christmas presents, yeah, it was the twenty-fourth December, the night of the present giving. But that year everything would be different, and it wouldn't ever be as before... We went to my grandparents' house, in the north of Portugal. My parents would be late for dinner, so we waited for them, they had some unexpected work, they were Aurors," she add some more suspense, that would fit well on any story, "They would have apparated in my Grandparents' house as soon as they had finished work, a Death Eater attack. It was strange, it had been many years since The Attack, when The Boy Who Lived killed him. That was what almost everyone thought. Contrarily, my parents didn't think that, they always said that He was hidden, somewhere. And the Death Eaters attacks had become less active in those years. That Christmas they seemed to be organizing some party to commemorate some strange, unexpected and special event. He would return, their plan was to revive You-Know-Who!"  
  
"Ooooh!"  
  
"The plan hadn't had any success, and they attacked a small Muggle village and my parents were called. That was what they wanted." suddenly, a sad expression crossed her face, "In fact they didn't have any plan to revive him, they weren't clever enough. They only wanted to kill some special people. They knew that the other Aurors were occupied doing other things, except four."  
  
"Four?" asked Marysia.  
  
"Four." Amanda agreed, "My parents, Andre Santos and Sergio Antocilo. They were called to fight the dark forces. When they arrived there, the Death Eaters were hidden and they attacked from behind them. The four were killed." Amanda was sad but she didn't cry, Cynthia noticed that, "When we heard it was midnight, in the living room, my cousins and I started to open our Christmas presents. The adults were worried but I didn't understand anything, I was only five." one more pause, "Two minutes after midnight, an owl knocked at the cold window. My grandpa opened it and took the letter. The owl flew away the fastest she could, it seemed it knew what it had carried."  
  
"What did it carry?"  
  
"Pain, shock and sadness. The Christmas wouldn't be a party anymore; it had become the day of my parents' death.  
  
"Aww..."  
  
"I receive the double presents on my birthday and on Christmas day we, I and my grandparents, go to the cemetery. Remember them. I do remember them every day, but Christmas has become a sad day, different to every Christmas in other houses."  
  
"I'm sorry," said Cynthia, who forgot Artio's mother for some moments.  
  
"I am, too. And that's the reason why I want revenge! I must learn many things here in the academy, I must fight the dark forces, and I will kill them all, with no compassion."  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
It was half past five and it was still dark, no sun.  
  
Cynthia woke up with a bite on her neck; some bug bit her so she would wake up. Cynthia noticed the Glumbumble. It flew outside the dormitory; Cynthia understood that she was supposed to follow her.  
  
In the Dolphin Common Room, Cynthia took a seat near the fireplace, which had no fire because it wasn't so cold.  
  
The woman returned to her human shape and took a seat near Cynthia.  
  
"What?" Cynthia asked, irritated.  
  
"We must talk, musn't we?"  
  
"Yeah, you ran away and I had to go to the Astronomy class," Cynthia nodded.  
  
"Robin would be angry if you hadn't gone..."  
  
"Robin?" Cynthia remembered about that name that she didn't know, "Who is Robin?"  
  
"Oh, you don't know his real name... Captain Dolphin, he's Robin Stormd'sky."  
  
"Cap... Captain Dolphin?" Cynthia was surprised; she never heard he had other name, "Stormd'sky?"  
  
"Yes, you didn't expect that Dolphin was his name, did you?"  
  
"No..." in fact Cynthia hadn't thought about that, "Is he Professor Shayra's husband?"  
  
"No, he's her brother... but that's another story, a long one, which I would tell you if I had time."  
  
"Okay, now explain me what you're doing here." Cynthia wasn't as angry with the woman as she had been when the Glumbumble-woman said she was Artio's mother.  
  
"I... I want to know if Artio had found her father yet," on her face appeared a scared expression.  
  
"Yes, of cours-" Cynthia was interrupted.  
  
"What? Had he found her? Oh my god, what will I do now?" she started to move nervously.  
  
"What? Didn't you know? She went to London with him, he has a new job there, and she is studying at Hogwarts."  
  
"You mean, Archibald, right?" the woman calmed down.  
  
"Yes, she had gone to live with him."  
  
"Oh, that's much better... In fact, Archibald... he..."  
  
"What? What happened?" Cynthia asked nervously thinking about the worse possibilities.  
  
"He is not Artio's real father."  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio woke up, her dorm mates were all sleeping and there was an owl knocking at a window near her bed. The owl was knocking desperately, the noise wasn't very audible, but Artio woke up with a hunch. She opened the window and the owl flew to her bed.  
  
She took the letter from the owl's leg and she flew away again, the moon was still visible in the Lake and in the sky, Artio looked at both with a remembering smile, and went to her bed where a letter was waiting to be read.  
  
  
  
  
  
Dear Artio,  
  
  
  
  
  
I received your owl yesterday but I could only reply now because I was busy, we had our first classes.  
  
This letter had been sent by an academy owl, I don't have one yet...  
  
Jeremy is fine, he didn't accept your departure very well but I think he'll think about it other way because he also loves you.  
  
I will talk to him soon.  
  
I won some points to the Dolphin house but Professor Josh Darkwater, Captain of the Shark house, took me as many as I've won...  
  
When we arrived at the academy, other students have arrived too. They are from Brazil; they're very funny. I didn't know that the academy also received Brazilian students, did you?  
  
So how are your father and your brother? I hope everything is right with you all. I don't need to ask about you, I know you are feeling sad for being away from Jeremy.  
  
I'll do my best to bring you both together.  
  
We'll find each other in holiday time, at least.  
  
Let me know how you're going and what have happened to you.  
  
Above all, try to have fun, and not to think about Jeremy very much, okay?  
  
Yours,  
  
Cynthia T.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio finished reading the letter; everything seemed fine with Cynthia. Artio thought she'd have to reply to her telling her about the Triwizard Tournament and her Quidditch training with Cho Chang.  
  
Suddenly she remembered about the snake she had seen on her arm the first night she had been there. She must tell Cynthia about that. Cho knew almost everything but one thing: that snake. She took a look at her left arm to check if it was still there. No sign of the image, it seemed as if it never was there.  
  
She wanted to sleep, she'd write to Cynthia later. Even if she sent the letter back right now, it would arrive to Sitnalta Island much later, almost two days after it had been sent. The distance between the two schools was huge and she thought it would be hard for the owls to do the travel...  
  
Artio lied on bed and fell asleep some minutes later.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that, she was more than shocked, "Mr. Sperios isn't Artio's father?" she was screaming.  
  
"Shh, shut up," asked the Glumbumble-woman, "You'll wake them up!"  
  
"What do you mean? You want me to shut up? Are you crazy? Okay, now I understand, you ran away from St. Mungo's..."  
  
"No!" replied the woman, eyes wide open, those eyes, which made Cynthia remember Artio, "I am Artio's real mother. Cynthia, let me explain, I know I made a mistake but now I can't fix that. I can, at least, fix my error in protecting Artio's life."  
  
The woman was right; Cynthia's screams had woken up some people. They started to appear at the doors of their own dormitories, "What happened?" asked some of them.  
  
Cynthia turned to look at them and, when she turned to face the woman, she was not there anymore; A Glumbumble flew outside the window in the common room, no one noticed that a simple bug could be an Animagus.  
  
"I..." Cynthia looked at the others again, starting to explain, "I fell asleep in this sofa," she showed it to them, "and I had been having a nightmare."  
  
The others started to protest and to go to their beds again, it wasn't day yet, they would appreciate very much to fall asleep again, that is, if Cynthia let them.  
  
"I'm sorry for waking you up! Sorry," Cynthia apologised.  
  
"That's a crazy girl," some fourth year girls commented, "She must be, no one screams like that in the middle of the night."  
  
The common room became empty again. No sign of any bug. Cynthia looked at every object, evaluating if it could be hidden somewhere, but it had gone outside.  
  
As Cynthia remembered that she'd return to the human shape if she wanted to talk to her, she went back to her dormitory. Monica, Natasha and Amanda were awake, certainly because of her scream.  
  
"What happened?" asked Amanda.  
  
"Oh, that was me, I had a nightmare and when I screamed out loud I woke up. I'm sorry for waking you up too," explained Cynthia.  
  
"In the common room?" asked Natasha, who was smart enough to know that she had been sleeping on the dormitory, not in the common room.  
  
"Yes, I went there to... to get a drink of water and I fell asleep on the sofa."  
  
"Oh," this was the last word Natasha said, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep again.  
  
"Sleep well," exclaimed Monica, the most sympathetic of the three.  
  
"Thanks Monica," replied Cynthia, "You too."  
  
Cynthia lay in bed and tried to fall asleep. "Damn it!" she thought.  
  
  
  
  
  
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That day the Dolphin students would have Defence Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Sinushoy Habecula, and Flying, with Professor Sabrina Pitinus.  
  
Both classes' subjects were a brief introduction to what they'd study that semester.  
  
In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Habecula asked them some basic Historic questions about the Wizarding Conference in which Goblins had been declared as intelligent beings, which had been in that status for seventy- two years; the year of the Declaration of Unicorn's protection and reservation in Natural Habitats...  
  
The Flying lesson was quite different, the introduction had been more practice, saying "Up!" for the first time and, additionally, it has some more fun because it was one class with two houses, Dolphin and Mermaid first years had been practicing for two entire hours. Professor Pitinus did not introduce them to the Quidditch balls, that was the first time they'd mounted a broom, at least, officially, because most of them have already flown for many years, with their parents, cousins or older friends.  
  
Cynthia herself did know how to fly but she was not a 'professional'... Madame Pitinus still had hard work on her hands to teach them how to fly and not cause trouble, which was a really difficult task.  
  
After classes, which had finished around six in the afternoon, Cynthia went to Captain Dolphin's office.  
  
When she was on the stairs, Anaras was coming down; Cynthia smiled.  
  
"Hi," she said, she seemed nervous.  
  
"Hi," replied Cynthia, "What are you doing around here? Some trouble with R... Captain Dolphin?"  
  
"Yes, I was in his office, but no trouble," Anaras smiled, "I... I've come to ask him authorisation to borrow a book from the Library..."  
  
"Oh, I am going to talk with him," suddenly Cynthia remembered that no one was supposed to know about her contact with Captain Dolphin, nor about the spell either, but unexpectedly, Anaras didn't ask any questions, "I am going to ask permission to borrow a book too," Cynthia emended.  
  
"Okay, are you having fun here?" asked the second year girl.  
  
"Yeah," replied Cynthia happily, "And Carldonne? Is he alright?"  
  
"Yes, everything's all right with us. Bye."  
  
"Bye," Cynthia replied and turned her back to her, walking to the office.  
  
Having no answer when she knocked at the door, Cynthia decided to open it even with no authorisation.  
  
She noticed that no one was inside, the window was open, from there a beautiful view could be seen, the sky and lots of seagulls flying over the boats in the island harbour, the blue of the sea was mixed with the blue of the sky, no hint of the horizon line.  
  
Cynthia stood there for a few moments, observing and enjoying the scenario outside.  
  
A Glumbumble entered by the opened window, Cynthia noticed it, and it turned into Artio's mother.  
  
"Cynthia," she began, but couldn't proceed because Cynthia interrupted her.  
  
"Finally you appeared!" she said, irritated, "Where have you been? You are turning me crazy with your apparitions and disapparitions!"  
  
"Shh, shut up, you saw what happened yesterday. It was your fault, if you hadn't screamed, now you'd know everything I have to tell you, don't make the same mistake twice."  
  
"Okay, now, tell me everything!" she was a bit calmer.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't, Robin will return soon, you are the only one who know I'm here and he especially must not know I'm here. We'll do the following: you will meet me on the same place as yesterday, behind the tree, after dinner."  
  
"But I can't wait so long!" protested Cynthia.  
  
The woman didn't reply, returned to the bug shape and flew outside the window.  
  
"Grr!" she mumbled and went back to the Common Room, she had to have dinner quickly, she couldn't wait to know what the bug thing had to tell her, she was really desperate, she doubted if her story was true or if she had been laughing at her the entire time.  
  
  
  
  
  
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"Hey," Cho called, "Artio, owl for you."  
  
"One more?" she asked, surprised, she didn't receive so many owls in one day.  
  
"Yes, and this one seems... to be enchanted!" Cho grinned, she tied the letter from the owl's leg and tried to read it, no way, she was enchanted with some spell that only Artio could see the words, "hum!" Cho continued, smelling the air, "It has perfume!"  
  
Artio stood up from the chair, she had been reading her book about Transfiguration, which she had had in the afternoon, and lost five points from Ravenclaw because she was asked how to turn a feather into a quill and she didn't know, the basic answer was in the very first page of her book, "Show it to me," she asked, "It's mine."  
  
Cho gave her the letter and as Artio looked at it to read, Cho was looking behind her shoulders.  
  
"Hey!" Artio said, meaning that she should be spying on her letter. Cho grinned and went away, not stopping to look at her.  
  
It was a letter from Jeremy, finally he had written to her.  
  
  
  
  
  
To the sweetest girl on the face of Earth  
  
  
  
  
  
Hi, Artio! I've thought about us both day and night, my eyes tend to close during classes, when I finally have time to sleep because the subject doesn't have any interest.  
  
I think I'll ask Professor Shayra to let me found a new class, Deep Study about Artio Sperios.  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio grinned, he was ever so funny!  
  
  
  
  
  
I think about anything but you.  
  
I was stupid when Cynthia told me you were gone and I was angry with both of you.  
  
One hour ago, after dinner, she asked me to talk; we went to the fields and sat down on the grass.  
  
She explained me that you had no chance, one more time she told me the same thing, the truth.  
  
I could merely have told you that I thought it'd be good for me to write this letter but I won't tell you that, just because it isn't the truth. It was Cynthia who told me to send you an owl, then I agreed and here it is.  
  
I just want to tell you one thing.  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio heard a great noise but as she hadn't finished reading Jeremy's letter, she didn't turn her head and so she didn't see three owls, who were carrying a great piece of a yellowed parchment.  
  
  
  
  
  
The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one.  
  
  
  
  
  
She stood looking at that letter, not understanding anything. The letter simply ended with those words, the last sentence, 'The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one'. Artio didn't understand anything... was Jeremy crazy? She looked away from the parchment of the letter, to Cho's face, who was rolling her eyes and grinning, then laughing out loud as if she had been enchanted with a stupid smile-for-two-entire-days spell.  
  
  
  
  
  
Then she turned her head, to see what had Cho been laughing about.  
  
The three owls were carrying a great parchment roll; it was so heavy that only three owls could carry it.  
  
Artio understood that was the continuation of Jeremy's letter.  
  
As she opened it, the parchment was more than two by three meters square, she could read "I love you!!" on every shape, size, colour and font. The font was changing, as the colour of each word, and its size. In truth there was a central sentence in the middle of the parchment, 'I LOVE YOU!' and many other sentences, dancing over the yellowed parchment, changing its colours and singing a music, which could be only heard 'I love you' thousands of million times. There were also two weird owls, one pink and one green, dancing and kissing and flying all over the scenario.  
  
Artio was laughing with happiness, she had never received a love declaration like that one! Cho joined her and hugged her so much, both grinning, "Do you see," said Cho, almost inaudibly because of the singing from the enchanted parchment, "He loves you too!"  
  
After that happy moment, and when they were both calmer (all the other girls became interested, wishing that the same happened to them, and some boys stole the idea to surprise their girls), Artio noticed there was one more owl waiting to leave its letter.  
  
  
  
  
  
I love you!  
  
I will love you forever, you are my girl, I am your boy.  
  
The distance between us won't break what I feel since I knew you.  
  
I will always understand everything you do, certainly you have some reason to do that and not do other things.  
  
I'm sorry for the pain I caused you, I know how you felt, not having any news from me, I felt the same way.  
  
Take care.  
  
  
  
  
  
Yours, with  
  
Love,  
  
Jeremy  
  
  
  
  
  
P.S. can you feed the five owls I sent you? They're from the academy and I don't want them to arrive here almost dead.  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio couldn't believe that Jeremy had done such a thing; it was and would be the most original love declaration she had ever received. (In fact it was only the one love declaration she had received since she was born...), and, yes, she'd feed those owls which made her day.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Cynthia had dinner quickly, in fact she didn't eat much, she wanted to go find that bug that had the gift of turning her crazy.  
  
There was she, down by the tree.  
  
"Good evening," the sunset would be in some minutes, as the day before, the sea gave it a wonderful look, Artio's mother was looking at the horizon when she said those words.  
  
"Come on, tell me everything, I want to know every detail of your apparition here, and quickly, you just can't have any other incident to make you not to tell me again."  
  
"You're right, I will start, just promise me you will make no comments, just listen to me attentively, if you want to help Artio you must trust what I say and don't make me waste time."  
  
"Okay," Cynthia agreed, and sat in the grass, her back touching the tree, and so did Artio's mother.  
  
"My name is Stella," she began; Cynthia was going to say something like 'What do I care with that?' but she sat quietly as the other took an close look at her, remembering her promise.  
  
"As I have told you, Archibald is not Artio's father," Cynthia desperately wanted to make a comment on that but she stopped herself, "Let me start from the beginning..."  
  
"Rudolph, my son and Artio's brother, was twelve, he was a second year at Beauxbatons, in France, where I and Archibald were living, he was doing some research in some important subject. We had been a happy family since Rudolph was born. Archibald was a free-lance journalist, he wrote some reports for famous wizards and he asked some magazines and papers if they wanted to buy his reports. He worked like that for seven years, he won some money in the beginning but then there were many journalists, who had studied on the best High Wizarding Colleges, and although he had much more experience than any of the others, what counted was what they had written on the paper."  
  
"Archibald had to change his method of working, as a free-lancer he got much more money because it was he who sold the interviews at his very own price. He became a normal province-paper journalist here in Portugal. Archibald and I always dreamed about the best schools for our son, and with the supremacy of the Dark Lord, Lusitania was not a secure place although it had good teachers. Here dark magic was also taught, until the Portuguese Ministry of Magic stopped it some years ago."  
  
"It was general knowledge who You-Know-Who feared, the great Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in England. When it was time to Rudolph enter to Hogwarts, we didn't hesitate, we followed him to King's Cross, I and Archibald, still a happy family, seventeen years ago..."  
  
"Archibald's work intensified when Rudolph was in his first year, my husband lived to win money and he didn't live the life as he should. We didn't have money problems, I knew that we didn't have the same cash as when he was a free-lancer but we didn't live in poverty. He was not the same person I had known one day. We were living in Portugal, Gilbert Stormd'sky," Cynthia raised an eyebrow, he could only be Robin and Shayra's brother, "was our friend, he was older than us some... four or five years. I had a little passion with him in that winter, because I had no husband anymore."  
  
"Some months after that he ran away, I didn't see him again since then. Lungush appeared at my house; Archibald was out as ever. I knew he had trapped Gilbert when they both were here in Lusitania."  
  
"Some weeks after his first apparition in my house he convinced me, I joined their habitual sessions with the Dark Lord. I became a Death Eater."  
  
Cynthia opened her eyes widely; she couldn't believe she was talking to a Death Eater who was, in addition, her best friend's mother. She didn't run away, if she had been there and nothing had happened to her, why would it happen now?  
  
"I didn't know why I did that, Gilbert would never face me again. Some time later I fell in love with one of them, it seemed I was the men-eater of that group, first Archibald, then Gilbert and after that... that bastard. Some years later I realised that in truth I had always loved Archibald, he was the man in my life, Gilbert was the escape I had to have some attention and someone taking care of me, and the other... I must have been crazy for power to follow Lungush's orders... but I realised that was too late, everything had been done and couldn't be repaired..."  
  
"I needed some power to feel better with myself, Archibald didn't even notice I went for secret reunions at the strangest hours of the day and night. I joined their stupid circle every time the Dark Lord called me by his mark," she showed the image of the skull on her left arm, "and I was stupidly influenced by him."  
  
Cynthia realised how much pain she had been feeling remembering those all horrible things and finally opened her mouth, "So you fell in love, or whatever, by one man in that circle and Artio's real father is a Death Eater, is that?"  
  
"No," said Stella, "Artio's father is the very own Voldemort." she started crying, tears falling down her face and stopping on the wet grass.  
  
  
  
  
  
Read? Review!  
  
  
  
  
  
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So, what did you think?  
  
Next chapter: What will Cynthia do, how will she react? Artio and Jeremy seem to finally find happiness above all, will that continue for much time? And Captain Dolphin, will he discover that Stella is in the academy?  
  
  
  
***  
  
Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and post reviews here.  
  
*** 


	10. The Quebralinus Spell

**Title:** Lusitania (10/12)  
**Author name:** siriuswhite  
**Author email:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com  
**Category:** Romance  
**Sub Category:** Mystery  
**Keywords:** Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA  
**Summary:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes: **Thanks to my beta-readers, for their extremely good work. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. For the readers, I know this chapter is the longest I've ever written and it's huge (65 pages long at Microsoft Word)… I hope you can read it. If you can't in one time, try the second. In his chapter many things happen, it's almost reaching the end… 

For your own knowledge I want to let you know that in the fic context I don't write every entry of Cynthia Tropelt's diary. This means that in the following entry, when it is said 'since the last time I wrote' it doesn't mean that it was since the last entry you noticed (21st September), because she might have written things that are not important for the story plot line or things that have been described on non-diary form along the chapter/fic. I hope you bear this in your mind for further references.

Thanks to Túlia, a (real) friend of mine, who told me that 'for ones to by happy, others must be sad'. Now I know it's true but it is also temporary, both happiness and sadness are temporary because the happy people don't live 'happy for the rest of their lives', they also have bad moments, as well as the contrary. So, Túlia here's my own theory: both happiness and sadness are temporary, and remember that the time passes too fast… So, remember the good moments when you're down, they'll help turning you up again, trust me. Túlia also gets credit for the sentence 'I don't love him, at least not in this moment; Although I can't say that I won't ever love him because Earth does turn many times', thanks for another inspiring session…  
  


******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

Lusitania 

BY S I R I U S   W H I T E

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TENTH CHAPTER 

THE QUEBRALINUS SPELL

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Cynthia realized how much pain she had been feeling remembering those all horrible things and finally opened her mouth, "So you fell in love, or whatever, with one man in that circle and Artio's real father is a Death Eater, right?"

"No," said Stella, "Artio's father is the very own Voldemort." she started crying, tears falling down her face and stopping on the wet grass.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 3rd September 1994_

_I'm back, with any of good news. Yesterday I was too tired to tell you what happened, so tonight I'll explain you everything._

_It started at dinner, Amanda gave me a gift. The gift was very special, a Glumbumble, she knew I liked animals very much._

_After dinner I went out with Jeremy, he was as gorgeous as ever. Actually I called him so I could say what I thought would be good for him and Artio. I told him he should send Artio an owl. After some doubts, he finally agreed. _

_When he went to the castle, I opened the bottle where the Glumbumble was. It went out and, you won't believe this, it transformed into a woman, she was an Animagus!_

_As I had to go to the Astronomy class she only explained me everything after dinner, today. She is Artio's mother, her name is Stella. She is very similar to Artio, I would think she was an older version of Artio herself. _

_She told me the history of her life and how she and Mr. Sperios became distant in their relationship, which made her get involved with other men. She told me that Mr. Sperios wasn't Artio's real father but one of the men she dated after Rudolph went to Hogwarts._

_I almost died when she told me that Artio's real father was You-Know-Who. Yes, that's what I said, she cried all through the night and she couldn't say one word else._

_In the beginning I thought she was mad and that she wanted to hurt Artio but now I know that she told me the truth, she was devastated when she remembered all those things. _

_As she said the worst thing I was expecting, she cried enough for a river, and then she transformed in the bug and flew away, she didn't let me comfort her. I think she has something else to tell me but as I didn't find her until the time I had to go to the dorms, I am not sure when I'll find her again._

_The only thing I can do in this moment is sleep, and wait for the time to pass until she appears again._

_I am tired, I need some rest, goodnight._

_Cynthia T._

As she closed the diary, Amanda opened the curtains of Cynthia's bed.

"Cynthia," Amanda started, "Do you want to come play wizarding chess with us?"

"Now?" Cynthia asked, not expecting such a thing at that hour.

"Yes, c'mon... have you ever played wizarding chess? It's very funny, I love to play it."

"I know," replied Cynthia, "I've played it two or three times... okay, let's go."

Cynthia stood up and noticed that some of the other girls were already dressed, they had certainly been planning that for a while.

Cynthia dressed her normal clothes and joined the others, while the five of them walked down stairs for the Dolphin Common Room.

Cynthia noticed that Amanda, the one in the command, didn't stop, "Amanda," Cynthia began, "Where are we going?"

Natasha, Ariane and Monica looked at her, without knowing why she was surprised.

"Where do you think? To the Chess Room, of course."

"What? There's a Chess Room?" Cynthia asked.

"Sure it is. Cynthia where have you been in the last three days? In London, Lisbon, Paris...? We discovered it yesterday afternoon, there are lots of chess boards. We tried to go there yesterday but..."

"We were afraid," continued Monica, who hasn't said a word since they walked down, "We were afraid of being caught by Madame Andrews, the caretaker."

"Oh... Where is it?" asked Cynthia.

"On the fifth floor," said Natasha.

"On the fifth floor?" Cynthia repeated, "The fifth floor?"

"Yes, what's the matter?" asked Ariane.

"Isn't it the forbidden floor?"

"Yes, but we discovered a way to access to it, and, in fact we don't know why it's forbidden, we didn't find anything strange... I think it's the sleeping floor, where the ghosts rest when they're not allowed to be with us."

"When is that?" asked Cynthia.

"During the night, of course, the ghosts aren't allowed to be in the other places during the night and, although they don't sleep, they stay on this floor passing their time with some other things. Now, let's go." Amanda wrote the password in the door, which wasn't sunny day anymore, now it was Arcturus.

The five girls went outside the common room, Cynthia looked at the portraits, they were both sleeping, and the man snored.

They walked up stairs for the fourth floor, which had a direct staircase to the sixth. Cynthia followed the other four girls to the sixth floor and there they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. There was an armoury at one side of the room, Amanda opened it and went inside, Ariane did the same.

"Cynthia, your turn," said Monica, "I don't want you to be the last one."

"Okay, Cynthia nodded, and walked one step to the armoury. 

As she entered it she noticed it was some kind of ramp, she was going to the fifth floor, the velocity made her eyes close. She only opened them when she was sure she had stopped and was fine. Amanda and Ariane were waiting her.

"Get out of there, Natasha and Monica might hurt you," said Ariane. Cynthia stood up and some seconds later Monica appeared, followed by Natasha.

"Woohoo!" Amanda exclaimed, "Here we are, on the forbidden fifth floor!"

Cynthia was scared with something, she knew they were not supposed to be there, and moreso, they were not allowed to be there.

She simply followed the other girls, there were, in fact, some ghosts flying on the corridors. The Chess Room was a wooden door, a large room with lots of chess boards. This was the first image that Cynthia kept in her mind, because then she noticed something else, as the other girls screamed an unexpected "Ooh!"

Inside the room there was someone else, they were two boys and one girl, they didn't know what house they were in. The others screamed a "Uh!" out loud too, thinking someone had caught them.

"What are you doing here?" Amanda broke the silence that came after the screams.

"We... we're..." started one of the boys.

"And you? You're also not allowed to come to the fifth floor," interrupted the girl.

"That's right, but that counts for you too." Amanda was a bit calmer.

"Yes, we're playing chess, we discovered this room this afternoon, and you?"

"We've come here since yesterday!" Amanda said, a defiant expression.

"Anyways," the other girl continued, "you don't own this room, do you?"

Cynthia stopped the discussion, "Can you talk like human beings?"

The girl mumbled, Amanda nodded.

"What house are you in?" asked Natasha.

"Michael and I are Whales, my cousin Andrew is Seagull," said the girl, "and you?"

"We're all Dolphins. I'm Natasha, this is Cynthia, Ariane, Monica and Amanda. And you, your name?"

"Barbara. Why did you come here?"

"Uh-huh!" said Amanda, "What can be done here? Play chess obviously."

"Us too, shall we play?" said Barbara, a defiant expression, "Would you like to be my opponent?"

"Would you like to lose?" said Amanda, with a superior air, "Okay."

The two boys, Michael and Andrew sat at one of the many tables in the room, and so did Cynthia and Monica, and Natasha and Ariane. Amanda sat with Barbara in the table which was in the centre of the room.

Twenty minutes later, Monica and Cynthia were playing their second game and Ariane and Natasha played their third. The two boys had stopped playing, and were watching Amanda and Barabra still playing their first game.

"Knight to E4," said Amanda.

"Queen to E4," exclaimed Barbara, Cynthia's knight was destroyed, which made her scream.

Two hours later they were still on the same game, all the other girls and boys were watching them. The pieces over the chessboard were almost in the same places they were one hour ago, and the watchers started to get tired and bored of the whole thing.

"I think we don't have time to finish our game properly, what if we leave it here?" suggested Barbara, "We could finish it tomorrow, no one comes here so it there won't be any problem. What do you think?"

"That's okay, I agree. See you tomorrow at midnight," said Amanda, with no sign of any questions.

They stood up and prepared to exit the room, Barbara in a firm voice, "Don't be late."

"Sure I won't." Amanda said.

Outside the room, in the corridor, some ghosts seemed to be going to a party, they were talking about diversion and the past... The students waited for them to enter other room before they exited to the corridor.

Once in the corridor Cynthia followed the other girls to the exit, which put them on the fourth floor, in an empty classroom. They made their way to the Dolphin Common Room; Barbara, Andrew and Michael made their own way to their common rooms.

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_Sitnalta Island, 5th September 1994._

_This morning, when I was having breakfast, I received an owl from Artio, it was a Lusitania academy owl, as she explained, it has been sent to her by Jeremy as well as other four owls which carried a great piece of parchment and the letter from Jeremy. He made her a wonderful declaration, the parchment was full of 'I Love You' sentences, the colours changing, and it was enchanted with some song, Artio said that it was the most beautiful declaration she had received._

_Jeremy followed my advice, Artio is happy and I'm glad of her. _

_She told me that she and Cho Chang had started their training and Artio thought it'd be good for Cho to win so she didn't do her best. I think she shouldn't do this, she should fight for the things she likes and, if it is necessary, she should defeat Cho Chang on a Quidditch practice. But she doesn't think this way, she always has to do what is good for the others, even if it is a bad thing for her._

_For her I would also do everything, give my life and maybe this attitude of mine is the result of her influence on my character. I don't know why I do everything for her, I haven't ever been like this with anyone else. If you ask me why I won't be able to tell. Perhaps because she has suffered too much, I've seen her in pain when Captain Dolphin told her about her parents' divorce. I think I owe her something and I don't know what. I met her a week ago and I don't know why we became such good friends._

_Artio wrote about a snake that appeared on her arm when the famous Harry Potter looked at her. As he's the enemy number one of the Dark Lord I don't know if she's in danger. _

_I think there are too many strange things happening with her. Even Snape, the Potions Professor, treats her like an angel and he's a monster with the other students._

_I hope I can meet her in the Christmas Break, which means everything is fine with both of us._

_I almost forgot, Amanda and Barbara finished their chess game last night, Barbara won, and Amanda is angry and crazy. _

_No sign of Stella. I need her so much now and she doesn't give me any sign since the night she told me about Artio's secret. _

_I wrote Artio back saying everything is fine here, Jeremy also received a letter from her and they're fine too. I didn't mention anything which I know and I feel bad because I lied to her and she trusted me so much..._

_I don't know what to do. _

_Wait?_

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

The History of Magic class was the most boring Cynthia ever had but she started to think about good things as she understood it would be the same way all throughout the year.

The Captain of the Octopus house was introducing the Dolphins to the History of the Academy.

"This academy was founded by a Brazilian wizard in the nineteenth century. The Azores archipelago had been discovered four centuries ago but this island, the Sitnalta Island had been kept hidden of the Muggles for all those years by Portuguese wizards and witches, they chose two islands for our own exploration and made them not visible to Muggles. As always, the wizards of that time had the feeling of development and that had to do with wizarding-only territories."

"Cynthia," called Ariane, "Amanda is asking us to ask Barbara to a chess game out of the Chess Room because Amanda thinks she enchanted the board... Would you come with us?"

"Sure. I think they're having-"

"Potions," completed Ariane and looked at Professor Tintacle to see if he noticed them whispering, "We'll ask her when Tintacle finishes his monologue..."

"Do you know why this academy is called Lusitania?" the Professor continued his monologue, no one replied him, not even Natasha.

"Okay," Cynthia whispered, "It's almost finished, less than ten minutes to be in heaven!"

"Heaven?" asked Ariane who didn't understand what Cynthia meant.

"Yes," she grinned, "Everything is heaven when compared to Tintacle's classes."

Ariane grinned with the explanation and finally listened to the History of Magic Professor.

"Portugal," he continued, "Portugal was called Lusitania some centuries ago. But, no, that isn't why the academy has been called Lusitania. According to the legend, there was a powerful artefact that was created by those people. They called it Lusitania and it had the powers of the seven powers of the sea, each of each sea animal. Octopus, Whale, Seagull, Shark, Dolphin, Crab and Mermaid."

Cynthia was finally listening to him attentively and was sort of fascinated, she had never heard about the origins of the academy. 

"Those are the seven houses of our academy. And the artefact was brought to this island in the Nineteeth Century and its powers helped a lot in the faith of the builders of the academy. They believed that the artefact blessed this place. And somehow, the legend was right because this was a safe place during the Grindelwald Dark Era. When Dumbledore defeated him, in 1945, the artefact was gone, with no possible explanation for it..."

"But how is it gone? It simply was there in one day and wasn't there in the following?" finally a voice of a student was heard in the classroom.

"Ah! Good point! Ten points to the Dolphin house," Tintacle looked excited, that might be the first time a student paid attention to his class, "It was almost that that happened, I'll explain. The artefact was what made people keep their faith and they kept it safe in the academy. When the battle was over they went to the place they had put it into and it wasn't there. And then came the legend."

"Legend?" asked Natasha, who was sitting at the first desk as always.

"Yes. As it disappeared when a Dark Wizard was defeated, people say that it will only appear again when it is needed, it means that it will appear when another Dark Wizard rises."

"So it appeared when Voldemort rose and disappeared when Mr. Potter killed him?" asked Walter.

"That's the strange thing. It didn't appear that time."

The classroom door opened, it was enchanted to open by itself when it was the end of the class.

"We'll continue talking about the origins of Lusitania Magical Academy next week. See you then," said Professor Tintacle when many students had already left the classroom.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 7th September 1994._

_This Sunday was the most complicated I had, we had to run from the fifth floor because the ghosts discovered we were playing chess there and they don't like to be humans in the same place they do during the night..._

_Amanda won one time, finally, but Barbara had won three times before so she is as angry as before._

_I still don't know what to do, Stella didn't appear and I am starting to think that someone caught her. _

_I've been interested about the Lusitania artefact, remember what I told you? Professor Tintacle told us it was because of it that the academy is called Lusitania and that the seven houses are named after its powers. _

_Due to my interest I asked Tacy about some books about the artefacts. She told me that there were a few but they were too expensive, and I had to keep my points for Jeremy's spell book. I've not talked to Captain Dolphin, I fear that he is angry with me because I didn't win enough points..._

_I decided not to find him until I had the book._

_I'm too tired to write more, we've been running to the fifth floor for more than two hours, hiding from the ghosts, so I'm really tired._

_I would like to pass a weekend like everyone else, but I can't, I pass the entire time thinking about Stella._

_PS - Jeremy receives one letter each day, from Artio, I think they're really in love and that's good. But I'm afraid it won't be good, the distance is the main enemy of their love..._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

"Good Morning!" exclaimed Carldonne, who was walking outside the castle to go to the Flying class.

"Hey, Carldonne," said Cynthia, "I haven't seen you for a while."

"Yes, I haven't been able to meet you, Artio wrote to me, she said you write to her almost every day."

"Almost, the time the owls pass flying is too much, they look tired and I have to send different owls every time," she smiled, "How's Anaras?"

"She's fine," he said, "But strange too... She spends the entire time asking permission to borrow books, every day she goes to Captain Dolphin's office... We had a discussion and I haven't see her since yesterday morning..."

"Oh, I've seen her around his office some times," Cynthia confirmed, "Perhaps she has some work to do for some class, I heard that Professor Tintacle asks for too many group projects for History of Magic."

"I don't know, she is strange indeed. I have to go to Flying, see you around."

"Ok, I also have to go to Transfiguration, see you."

Carldonne exited the wooden door of the castle, Cynthia made her way to the third floor to the Transfiguration classroom.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

At the same moment, Artio made her way to the Common Room, Professor Sprout's class had been too boring for her and she wanted to eat something delicious.

When she entered the Great Hall she saw Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor ghost, who was around some first year Gryffindors who didn't know the way to some classroom. Suddenly she remembered Moaning Myrtle, the girls' bathroom ghost. Artio promised her she would visit her sometimes and she wouldn't forget about her promise, as many people had done, and yet she forgot to meet her indeed.

As she had some time before the next class she decided the meal could wait, she'd be much better to see Moaning Myrtle happy for seeing her.

Arriving at the bathroom, she called, "hello?"

A black haired head appeared on the door. Artio noticed it wasn't Moaning Myrtle's head.

"Who are you?" asked the black haired girl.

"Artio. And you?" 

"Jane."

"How's she," Artio shook her head to the Moaning Myrtle.

"As always, sad... I'm leaving." said Jane.

"Okay," said Artio, "see you around."

As Jane exited the bathroom, Artio approached the Moaning Myrtle, "Hi," she said.

"Hi, Artio," said the Moaning Myrtle, her eyes looked like she had been crying.

"I'm sorry, I promised to come here to talk to you and I didn't."

"It's okay," said the ghost, "Everyone forgets me, I tend to think it's normal. So, how has your week been?"

"Very good," she said, "Jeremy sent me an owl saying he loves me!"

"Good," the ghost forced a smile.

"I mean, he sent me five owls, carrying a great parchment which was enchanted with dancing words, coloured, singing, oh it was the most beautiful love declaration I've ever had!"

"Good!"

"Yes... and Cho Chang and I had started training for the seeker position, but she's the best," Artio smiled, "Oh, and the revelation of the year!"

"What? Dumbledore married?" the ghost seemed to be happier.

"No, greater than that! Snape!"

"Snape?"

"Yes, he seems to like me. Everyone thinks I've put him under some curse, we pass hours talking about it."

"So you became a Slytherin right?"

"No, that's the thing, I'm a Ravenclaw and he hasn't taken any points from me, yet..."

"I can't believe! C'mon Artio, you can trust me, what spell did you cast on him?"

"Hehe, none, I swear."

"Oh, okay, he must have visited someone at St. Mungo's and that one isn't him but the person he visited, using Polyjuice Potion."

Both Artio and the Moaning Myrtle grinned with the joke, that was a possible theory, Artio would remember to joke with her house students telling them about that.

"You have to go, right?" asked the ghost who seemed to know when Artio was going to leave.

"Yes, I have the next class in less than three minutes, I really have to go. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, go on."

"I'll come here some day okay? I promise I won't forget."

"Do not promise what you can't accomplish" said the ghost, "I'm sure you will come if you remember, you needn't promise."

"Okay, but be sure I'll come."

"I am," these were the last words of the ghost, Artio walked back to the Great Hall and then to the classroom.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 14th Spetember 1994._

_I haven't written anything since the 5th because there weren't many things to write about. _

_In summary, Amanda and Barbara continue playing chess every night but now they do it in an empty classroom of the second floor._

_Jeremy and I have talked about Artio, he's really in love with her and now that he's happy, he is more handsome than before. I think Artio wouldn't like to hear about this... _

_Anaras and Carldonne have been discussing many things, normally I try to make them think about love and to stop with the discussions because I'm sure they love each other. _

_Tacy recommended me some books to read, she's a romantic, every book is about some unforgiven(or unrequited???) love story, I've started to read the first of them but it is getting boring._

_I'm afraid Stella has been caught by some student, as Amanda caught her... no sign of her. I really need to hear the reason why she's here in the academy but she wasn't able to tell me yet. I will try to discover the 'raptor'._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 21st September 1994._

_As of the last time I wrote there are not many things to write about._

_Stella is missing and I have no clue as to who caught her. _

_Classes are beginning to be boring, I have won some points but they're not enough for almost anything and for the things they would be enough I can't use them because of Jeremy spell book. _

_The interesting class is History of Magic, the one which seemed to be the most boring. Professor Tintacle told us more about the Lusitania Artefact and its powers, and the legend. I really liked the legend._

_It says that the artefact will be inside the person who can save the world from a Dark Wizard, or on the contrary help the Dark Wizard to have more power, depending on which side the person who has the artefact is on._

_My room mates have already decided in dorm conference that the actual owner of the Artefact was already born and that he's Harry Potter, 'It's the only thing that can explain that a one-year-old boy can defeat such Dark Wizard as he is', they say. I myself was present at those 'conferences', as I've called them, but I haven't revealed my opinion because I don't really think he has the artefact. Actually I don't trust the legend one hundred percent._

_As always Amanda has been playing chess during the night, with Barbara. Ariane and Monica told me that Andrew, the Seagull student that usually go play chess with us, has fallen in love... with me. I didn't believe them, then, but since that day I've been paying attention to him and, in fact, he is a bit shy, at least with me, what makes me re-think on what they said. Actually I doubt he loves me, we met in the beginning of this month, not already a month has passed!_

_As always, Jeremy passes his entire free time searching for sweet love sentences in the library so he copy them to the owl and send to Artio, they're happy, I think, I haven't told anyone about the spell but Stella._

_The Astronomy class is the most scary for me, I don't know why but it is. Captain Dolphin does ask me many questions, more than everyone else, I have been avoiding him, I don't want to tell him that I haven't enough points, Tacy told me I didn't. I fear him since that day he became strange, I may have misunderstood what he meant and perhaps I have no reason for being scared with him but I can't not be._

_Carldonne and Anaras are alright now, when I found them together I told them, 'See? I knew that Love would win this battle!'_

_This is Sunday night and Amanda will be appearing at my bed curtains soon asking me to go play chess with them. _

_I'll tell you who won this time when I get back to the dorm, if I am not too sleepy._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_The same night, almost three hours later..._

_I just had to write this._

_As I said, Amanda asked me to go with her, Monica, Natasha and Ariane for another chess game. Barbara and Amanda haven't finished the game so I don't know who will win._

_But the most important is another thing._

_Andrew._

_Yes, the girls were right, he told me he loves me. Well I may tell you how it happen exactly._

_We arrived at the second floor (an empty classroom where they play chess since last week) and they were there, Andrew, Michael and Barbara. Amanda and Barbara started playing, as well as all of us and Andrew made sure he would play against me (normally I play with Natasha). _

_When we finished the game (I won), I told him 'Andrew you let me win, that isn't funny, you should just play, not let me win... why did you do that?' and he, after a silence, replied, 'because I want to see you happy, because I love you.'_

_Yes, the words were those, I didn't believe him, I just stood at him saying nothing. Suddenly his face transformed into Jeremy's, and I stood looking at him for a while, when I realized what was really happening, and I told him, 'But Andrew, we just met, what, A month ago? I have only seen you during some nights I've came here to play chess... I just don't understand how you love me...'_

_I know that wasn't the best attitude, practically I just told him 'but I do not love you' but when I realized it was done. Then I tried to repair it, I said 'I am just your friend, I am not sure if there is something else... give me some time, okay?' _

_I am sad, I shouldn't have told him that._

_But now it's done. _

_And I don't understand why did I imagine Jeremy at his face... He's ARTIO'S boyfriend, and she's my BEST friend._

_I'll just get some rest which I really need._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

The afternoon had passed too fast, that Tuesday had been too boring and Cynthia was trying to relax, watching the sunset, sitting in the grass, her back to the tree where she and Stella had met almost one month ago. This was the last day of September, and Cynthia had no sign of Stella since those weeks so long ago.

Jeremy had stood with her some minutes ago, in the Great Hall, letting Cynthia know about Artio and everything.

When the sun disappeared, Cynthia prepared to stood up and go inside the castle and finally an insect flew in her direction.

The animal trembled and transformed into Stella. "Cynthia!" she exclaimed.

"Stella," Cynthia hugged Artio's mother, at the beginning she was angry with her but now, maybe because of the conversation they had, she felt like she was Artio's other protector.

"I've been caught," said Stella, "I wasn't able to escape so I couldn't contact you, but I know that nothing important happened. Why did I have to be a Glumbumble? People look at such bug, think it's so sweet and, boom, caught it and made it prisoner. Ah..."

"In fact, it shall be a difficult thing, to be a Glumbumble... But you didn't tell me the purpose of your coming here. Now tell me until you have to go again."

"Yes, because you should already know this... Let me continue, where were we?"

"You said that, erm, Voldemort was Artio's real father and then just vanished."

"Yes, I was very sad of remembering those moments..." said Stella, looking down, "The most important thing is that Artio is in danger. Have you heard about the Lusitania artefact?"

"Artio's in danger? Ah, yes, Professor Tintacle told us about it."

"And its legend?"

"Yes, my dorm mates think that the one who owns the artefact is Harry Potter, they say that it is the only thing that explains the disappearance of the Dark Lord at the young boy's hands."

"In fact, they're wrong," said Stella, "Artio owns the artefact, and that's the reason why she's in danger."

"Artio? But... How Artio?"

"Yes, it's her, the one who can do the change. There are several ways for the Dark Lord to come back, but that's the easiest of all."

"Sorry, I don't understand, what does Artio has to do with the Dark Lord, apart from being his daughter?"

"Apart from being his daughter? Cynthia, that's the reason of everything, they can't be split."

Cynthia suddenly remembered about the owl that Artio had sent her, talking about the snake that appeared on her arm when Harry Potter looked at her.

"Stella, Artio wrote me about a thing that happened to her. When Harry Potter looked in her direction she felt pain in her arm and a snake appeared there, she can't explain why."

"Ah, yes, the mark."

"The mark?" asked Cynthia, who didn't understand how Stella could say those words with such naturality.

"Yes, I have one too," Stella showed Cynthia her mark, a skull, on her left arm, "Both of us have a mark, as well as her father, it was him who made them."

"But yours is different," said Cynthia.

"Yes, do you know what the Dark Mark is? It is a snake coming out of a skull. Artio 'came out' of me, so she is the snake and I'm the skull. All made up by him, intelligent by the way."

"Weird, and creepy!"

"Yes. But it is reality, we have to live with it. At least, Artio's doesn't appear all the time, just when some enemy of the Dark Lord looks at her; mine is always seen, both day and night..."

"But we were talking about the Legend of the Lusitania Artefact," said Cynthia, "tell me more."

"As I said, Artio has the artefact, and she's the one who can change everything, for good or for worse than it is now," Stella paused for a moment and then continued, "The point is... Voldemort's followers want to catch Artio, they want to take Lusitania from her and the object will raise the Dark Lord easily. On the other hand, if Artio can fight them and resist, Lusitania will help kill him."

"So we have to tell Artio," said Cynthia.

"No," Stella was calm, "She is safe at Hogwarts. Actually I made up the entire plan to put her at Hogwarts, she is safer there than she's here in the academy. Cynthia, if we let Artio know she will get into trouble."

"Okay, so what can we do?"

"I saw your diary that night, when the girl caught me."

"What?" asked Cynthia, "How could you...? You shouldn't read other people's diaries!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, but it's done, and it will help you a lot!" said Stella and Cynthia changed immediately her tone of voice.

"Me? How?"

"I've seen that you have to find a spell on a book so you can cast the spell on Jeremy." Stella was glad of her knowledge.

"No one was supposed to know about that," Cynthia commented, "But if you can help me…"

"I know a way for you to get the spell," said Stella.

"A… way? What do you mean?"

"The main quest is for you to learn the spell, right?"

"Yes," Cynthia replied, not understanding what Stella meant.

"No matter the way you can do it, right? So I have a plan."

"Tell."

"You usually go talk with Tacy, right?" asked Stella.

"Yes, do you know her?"

"I did, she was here when I studied in the academy. But that doesn't matter. So you will have to go to the library and talk to her, with me in your pocket, around the time she closes the door. Then I will go to the restricted section and I'll copy the spell instructions onto some parchment, which you will read and learn later."

"But that isn't right," Cynthia protested, "I shall get it with my effort, my points."

"Nuh-uh," Stella shook her head no, "You shall help Robin in his plan, I don't know what it is, but will help Artio for sure, and that's your first objective. So you have to agree with me, I'm the last card you can play."

"Okay, then." Cynthia finally agreed and they set up the last details of the plan, they would go to the library on Tuesday afternoon, that was the day when the least students were in the Library at that time because most of them would participate in the Quidditch Tryouts for the House teams.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

It were half past six in the afternoon, the Library would be closed at seven o'clock. Cynthia had gone to the fields to catch Stella, who was already in her pocket on her Aminagus shape.

"Hello," said Tacy when she noticed Cynthia was there, "I haven't seen you for almost one week, what happened?"

"I, yes, I haven't been able to come here because I had lots of homework to do, the mid-term tests start in two weeks…" Cynthia lied, Tacy wouldn't for sure be able to know if she did or didn't have plenty of homework to do.

"Ah, it must be hard, I remember on my school time, Professor Binns was my History of Magic teacher, he was already a ghost and we didn't pay any attention to his class so the tests weren't any fun… Then, to hide the tests marks of his memory he demanded us to do research work on the older books I've ever seen… I passed more than two weeks reading those books after classes and during the night because I wanted to have a good mark on his class and that was my last chance. On the presentation day, he asked my house students what they thought about my work, as he always did, and they replied 'This was the worst work I've ever seen, the time of your speech is wrong, the Goblin Rebellion wasn't in 1896, and you misunderstood your title with the theme. I would give you a negative mark but as it isn't possible, zero is the right thing.' This was what Joan Urtig said about my work and the Professor agreed, he gave just a 'zero'. I had passed my entire free time researching for him and I was sure my work wasn't that wrong, although I knew that the Goblin Rebellion wasn't in 1896. I became so sad that for the rest of the week I didn't eat anything."

"Oh…" said Cynthia and, as she noticed that Tacy was looking to the desk but wasn't seeing it but thinking about those times, she opened her pocket and the Glumbumble flew for the restricted section of the library. The plan was accomplished but now she had to be hearing of Tacy's History of Magic class for a while before going downstairs.

"Then I understood he and Joan weren't enough to kill my soul. I have never done any homework for his class and I had to repeat History of Magic in the following year but, as a new professor came to the academy, I did it successfully…"

"Oh, I knew you wouldn't be upset by that thing…" Cynthia commented, feeling bad for saying that because it wasn't true, she never thought about it, she didn't even hear attentively what she had been saying. Cynthia wasn't the person that was talking to Tacy, she couldn't hurt anyone like that, she just couldn't. But now it had been said, Tacy seemed to agree, or not notice she was lying, so she didn't have to worry about.

"Yes," Tacy said, "So, have you read the books I've recommended to you?"

Oh, that was a difficult thing to answer, Cynthia had started reading some but she didn't continue because it was boring, "Erm, no, I mean, I've started reading some but… then there were homework and the little free time I have I spend reading school books…"

"Oh, poor girls, I think that Professors shouldn't make you do so much homework…"

"Yes, I also think so. Well, I have to go, I will help at the Quidditch tryouts."

"Oh, okay," Tacy looked at her watch and declared, "It's almost time to close the library, I shall go with you, for sure no one will come here after the casts."

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 2nd October 1994._

_Since the last time I wrote in this yellowed parchment I haven't seen Stella. I've told you about The Plan, and that I let her go to the Restricted section so she can copy the spell for me to learn it._

_I don't know what happened to her but, in fact, she might have been there searching for it. She couldn't make any noise and, if someone discovers her there she will be kept in her Animagus shape even if that means some prison in an empty bottle or some other thing. Those were the terms of our 'treaty' as I call it, when she decided to go there and help me with my things, which actually are theirs more than mine._

_Artio told me in her last owl, which I received yesterday night, that Hogwarts will be receiving the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons schools of wizardry for the Triwizard Tournament, there might be some confusion and lots of things for the house elves to prepare. She also writes about her training with Cho Chang for the Ravenclaw house Seeker position, which are going bad for her because she stopped letting Cho win, now she fights for the position too but it isn't good the same way because Cho wins more times than she does. Now I think she's acting correctly, one must fight for their own objectives, even if that means sadness for some others. When some people are happy, some other must be sad, that's the main law of the mankind living._

_She told me that she has often visited Moaning Myrtle, she says that she's a sympathetic but lonely ghost so she likes to help cheering her up. She didn't tell Cho that she's seeing a ghost several times a week because if she did, Cho would think she is crazy. She says that Cho and her are only competitive on the Quidditch fields, off them they're friends as if they weren't fighting for the same thing, and that means that one will win and the other will lose. I don't think that Cho can separate reality on 'Quidditch field personality' and 'elsewhere personality', Artio may be wrong… When I write back to her I must say that she should tell Cho about the ghost. If she's really her friend she won't think she is crazy, right?_

_Jeremy and Walter are already thinking about their dates for the Hallowe'en ball. Perhaps the other boys are also thinking about it but they're the ones I heard about… they're girl crazy, but I'm sure that Jeremy is doing it for fun because he really loves Artio…_

_I will go to the library tomorrow morning trying to get Stella back into my pocket, I hope she's in good health._

_P.S. – Andrew is missing, I mean, he's missing from my sight, I haven't seen him. Perhaps he didn't accept what I told him but in fact I don't love him, at least not in this moment; Although I can't say that I won't ever love him because the Earth does turn many times…_

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

Entering the library, Cynthia understood that The Plan was accomplished, she saw the Glumbumble on a desk near the wall.

"Hi," Cynthia said to Tacy.

"Hey," the woman replied, "how are you?"

"I'm fine," Cynthia showed Tacy the books she was carrying, "I came here to return the books you've recommended me."

"Oh, have you already read them?" asked Tacy.

"I'm sorry, no, I had been too much homework to do," one more lie, Cynthia thought, she would become a professional liar, and she didn't like the idea, "But I want to return them so someone can read them here, I don't want to have them because I want to share them. This way I will borrow one at a time and the other students can access to the others."

"Oh, what a nice girl, I love people who share their things with the others. I agree with you, this way more people can read them. Five ~points for the Dolphin house," she declared proud of Cynthia's action, her eyes shining happily.

"Thanks," Cynthia said. As Tacy turned to put the books on their places she shook her hand in the bug's direction and it flew to her pocket. "I have to go," she said, and prepared to leave.

"Oh? Already?" asked Tacy, "And what about the book you wanted to borrow? Do you think you have enough points for it?"

"Erm," Cynthia mumbled, what would she say? She _wasn't_ going to borrow the book anymore. "I… I don't have enough points…"

"Oh, okay, see you later."

Cynthia nodded and went out of the library, Stella was moving in her pocket, she might be as happy as Cynthia as the plan was successful.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

Outside the castle, Stella returned to the human shape. Some students were already having breakfast, others were having their first class of the day. As it was dangerous for the Animagus woman to be discovered, they had to talk quickly.

"So, mission accomplished?" asked Cynthia, a smile on her face.

"Almost. As you can see, I am not able to keep the parchment, it'd be bigger than a bug. It's written, I copied it as I was asked to, and checked it several time to avoid errors."

"But where have you put it?" asked Cynthia, some irritation in her voice; she thought that the woman would do everything but now she still have a task to do.

"Inside '_Wizarding Dictionary of ancient languages_'. Between pages twenty-two and twenty-three. I made sure it was a public book, no points are needed to request it."

"Why the hell did you choose that book?" asked Cynthia, "What reason would I have to consult such book? No one will believe me. Dammit!"

"You… sorry but I risked my own freedom, I could have been caught. That book was the nearest to me, you just have to say it's for… discovering the meaning of some thing. Ah, you'll make up something. Now, go there and start training for it."

"Now? Are you crazy?" Cynthia was upset, the woman didn't do what she was expecting and that put her out of her wits, "I told Tacy that I had homework to do and that I didn't have time to read, how will I go there now, ten minutes after leaving? I must wait until tomorrow, at least tomorrow."

The woman looked at her but she had no choice but agree, she couldn't be exposed and she couldn't do anything else. Stella was waiting for the day she could save her daughter from her own father. But now the only thing she could do was wait until Artio's best friend decided to go to the Library… depending on a teenager was no good thing for Stella but she had no choice. 

A Glumbumble flew to a tree leaf, sleeping would help pass the time.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 5th October 1994._

_I have finally a copy of how to cast the spell. I don't know if I have written this but I didn't have any idea of what spell it was, I just limited to think about it as 'the spell'…_

_It is called the 'Quebralinus' spell. As I have read, it says that the spell breaks the link between two people. I suppose that Captain Dolphin wants to break the link between the people that cast the spell on Artio and herself. He told me that the person who cast it can control Artio, as if she is under the Imperius curse. The spell that was cast is not unforgivable, although it is also Dark Magic, and it takes more time to be cast than the Imperius itself. _

_I am training to do it properly. It consists in several wand movements, up down, turn, left, plus saying the words 'Quebralinus', it seems easy but it isn't that easy because the wand must have some centimetres between each movement, I don't want to describe that, it's boring. _

_I will tell Captain Dolphin that I'm ready for it in some days. I will be able for it, I'm sure._

_P.S. – Andrew talked to me yesterday, he seemed to be trying to forget what I've told him, or what he told me. I think he is just trying to be my friend. I respect his feelings so I did the same thing, not talking about any past conversation between us. I hope he understands my position, I just can't say that I love him because I… just can't._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

It was almost mid-October when Cynthia decided to talk with Captain Dolphin. When she knocked at his office's door a 'Come in' was heard.

Cynthia opened the door and entered, "Good morning, Captain."

"Cynthia!" he exclaimed, smiling. He looked like the old Captain Dolphin, the one who didn't know what it was to be angry, "What a surprise!" Cynthia had been attending his class but it wasn't the same thing as talking to him, looking in his eyes, in his office, with no one else.

"I just came here because I'm ready."

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes, I know what the spell is, I've been training and I think I am able to cast it on Jeremy."

"Good, I wasn't expecting that this soon. Did you get that greatest amount of points? The Dolphin house would be glad to count with those points for the House Cup points challenge…"

"Erm, I just know how to do it, that's what matters, right?"

"Right," he said, "We have to hurry up. Listen to me…"

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 14th October 1994._

_Today I went to Captain Dolphin's office. I told him that I was ready for the spell casting. He was kind of surprised._

_He told me every detail, he must have been planning that for twenty years. We'll cast the spell on Jeremy in the 18th, it is Friday and Captain told me it'd be good if he passed the weekend sleeping, so he wouldn't miss a greater number of classes… He will be sleeping until Monday afternoon, or night, depending on how he will react to it. Captain Dolphin told me that he would tell the professors that he went to Flores, an Island of the Muggle Azores archipelago, to meet his family who wanted to see him, and he would return Tuesday. _

_As he had already told me, we have to put him in some place where no one finds him. Captain told me about a sort of tree-house, on a big ancient tree. As he described, it is full prepared to receive him, a wooden bed and it's not easy to find. I hope I don't fail this, for sure Captain Dolphin would kill me._

_Ah, Artio wrote me saying that the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students would arrive at Hogwarts in the 30th, it'll be too much work for the house elves…_

_P.S. – Andrew and I have been meeting, like friends only, to see the sunset for four days. Tonight he brought me a flower, a white rose, saying that it was some kind of friend gift… I know what he meant, he can't be my friend only. And I can't be anything else than a friend for him. I really like him, he's cool, he's friend of his friend, helpful, if I could decide who to love I would choose him. But I can't. By the way, that can be a possibility for my work when I graduate, to invent a way of choosing who to fall in love with. _

_Gah, for sure I won't be successful._

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

The rest of the week passed too fast, Friday night came quickly. That was the night of everything, or nothing. Everything depended on the success or failure of that spell. She didn't know what 'everything' meant but she believed that, as it was Captain Dolphin who said that two days ago, when he established some more.

"I discovered this tree yesterday, I think it's wonderful and quite cool. I wanted to share my discovery with someone else," Cynthia told Jeremy when they walked in the tree-house direction.

"That's cool. I should have told Walter, he would love to come with us."

"No!"

"No?" he asked, not understanding Cynthia's fear, "He wouldn't tell anyone, he's a cool guy."

"I mean, I want to show this to you first."

Soon they were climbing up the leader to the house of the tree, Cynthia first. Captain Dolphin was still there but Jeremy didn't know.

Both Cynthia and Captain Dolphin would cast the spell at the moment Jeremy was up there, that was the way he wouldn't see Captain Dolphin and he wouldn't know anything, it would be easier in Captain Dolphin's opinion.

Cynthia drew her wand, as well as Captain Dolphin, and when Jeremy entered the house, Cynthia moved her wand the way she had been practicing, and said, _Quebralinus_ at the same time. Captain Dolphin his own moved his wand when his mouth opened and let the words _Finite Controlactus et Oblivio Personalle _come out.

Jeremy was the target both orange and blue lights coming from the two wands, and fell asleep, a sleep that would continue for three days.

"He won't forgive me," said Cynthia, "I should have explained the whole thing to him, this is for Artio's safety, he doesn't know why I did this."

Captain Dolphin heard Cynthia and after a moment looking for Jeremy sleeping on the wooden bed he said, "Don't worry, he won't remember anything of this, he will just remember the moment when he was climbing up the ladder. You must be here with him when he wakes up. When he does, you just say that he fainted, you didn't know what to do and that you kept him here for three days. You tell him that he must say he was visiting his family at the Flores Island for those three days because if he doesn't you'll be in trouble. Easy, huh?"

"Easy?" asked Cynthia, "I don't think so, but that's the thing I have to do, no choice, right?"

"Right. See you Tuesday at the Astronomy class, I hope you can deal with his questions, I trust your imagination."

As he said this he went down the ladder and Cynthia would only see him again on Tuesday.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

Cynthia made exactly what Captain Dolphin had told her, every step, every detail. He trusted her, he said it was okay.

Cynthia noticed that on that Monday night Jeremy was looking at her with a different shining on his black eyes. It seemed to be a _super nova_ in the sky. She thought it was her problem, he might be looking at her as ever, but the hours she had spent looking at his face, closed eyes, sleeping, made her see other things than reality. His hair looked more brilliant than the other days although he hadn't showered for more than three days…

They entered the castle some minutes later and he did what she asked him to do, tell everyone he had been with his family during those three days he was missing.

Cynthia finally felt fine, no feeling of duty.

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

_Sitnalta Island, 22nd October 1994._

_Everything is done. Finally Jeremy woke up. I saw that I wrote more than five pages describing Jeremy sleeping… I also noticed that every day I wrote the same thing, what a waste of parchment…_

_I have finally accomplished my mission. _

_Artio wrote to me saying that the entire school is waiting for the foreign students to arrive at Hogwarts. She followed my advice and finally told Cho about the Moaning Myrtle. As I expected, she says that Cho didn't say any worse thing, she even told her that herself have been talking to her some times in her second year. Their training seems to be going on with no bad things, Cho wins more times than Artio, she says that she doesn't influence it, it just happens, but I'm not sure._

_P.S. – Andrew and I have been meeting during these three days, he started talking about the dates for the Hallowe'en ball. I told him the truth, no one asked me yet, and as most of my friends were asked I think I will go alone. Yes, even Andrew didn't ask me, he also doesn't have anyone to go with. I think he doesn't invite me because he doesn't want his effort to be my friend to be in vain. I also don't want that._

_Cynthia T._

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_The Tree-house where Jeremy slept, 25th October 1994._

_I have been coming here for this week, Jeremy comes here sometimes too but now he's not here so I'm writing this. This is my lunchtime, I usually write before sleeping but now is a special occasion. _

_The thing that I was expecting didn't happen, Andrew asked me to go to the ball with him._

_I think that he was too shy to ask me the other day so he could only do it today. He asked me in the morning break. He just said, 'Cynthia I have no one to come to the ball with. Do you want to go with me?' _

_I saw that he had been training that for centuries and when he said he felt like, wow, it's done! Then he said, 'Do you have someone yet? I mean, you don't want to accept.' _

_I realized it was my decision, I could tell him, no I don't have anyone yet, or I could lie to him. As I thought about my friends who were going with other boys and didn't even think about something else than a 'going to the ball' I simply said, 'I would appreciate'._

_Yes, we could only be friends even if I went to the ball with him, couldn't we? I thought so, and I agreed. He looked at me for a while, I think he was not believing what I said. Finally he stood up, told me 'Wait for me in the Great Hall on the Thirty-first' and was gone. Simple, huh? I myself was glad to have someone to go to the ball with._

_But then, trouble, Jeremy asked me to go with him. I thought he had found someone else, I knew that he and Walter were talking about it since the beginning of the month. I just couldn't tell him no but in fact I didn't want to go with him, he was, I mean, is Artio's boyfriend!_

_That's why I had to write this. Do you know what I told him? I have someone to go with yet, but I can reserve you a dance. He was incredulous, I saw, and he asked '_A_ dance?' and I replied, 'A dance or nothing.'_

_He agreed and went away… I don't know if I did the right thing, I fear I didn't, Andrew won't like that for sure. But now it's done, so I will have a dance with him .Oh my god!_

_Cynthia T._

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******

The night of the ball came faster than the night of Jeremy's spell. Cynthia dressed in her ball dress, the one required by the academy when she received the list of supplies for the year. It was a long, light green dress, decorated with some white roses over it. Her hair was arranged with a crown of flowers

When she went down stairs, Andrew was awaiting her in the Great Hall, thinking, 'wow'.

"G-good evening," he said, and took Cynthia's arm.

"Good evening," she replied smiling.

The meal was great, there were many things that students didn't have for normal school days' meal. The entire academy was dressed beautifully as well as every one, even Professor Tintacle.

After dinner Andrew and Cynthia stood up when they heard the music. That was the first dance of the night, many students were still talking, not dancing yet.

Near the end of the first dance Jeremy approached them. 

"You promised me a dance," he declared ignoring Andrew, who was looking at Cynthia and Jeremy apprehensively.

"Now?" she asked, taking a look at Andrew who didn't open his mouth.

"Yes, why not?"

"Andrew," Cynthia began, "I promised him a dance, I'll be right back." She knew it wasn't an acceptable reason but she didn't want to tell him another word, but avoid his staring.

"Okay," he said, seeming to be all right.

Cynthia joined Jeremy and they started dancing the second dance of the night, a slow one. Jeremy drove them to the corner of the Great Common Room, there were many people dancing but there Andrew wouldn't hear him.

"Cynthia, do you know your blue eyes were the first I saw when I woke up in the tree-house?" he began. Cynthia looked at him but didn't say anything.

"Your black hair was the first hair I saw when I woke up. Your nose was the first nose I saw when I woke up…" he made a pause and then a sweeter voice, "Your lips were the first lips I saw when I woke up, in the tree-house."

Cynthia was looking at him, they continued dancing in the same room, in the middle of the same people but it seemed like they were in another universe.

"Your hair, your eyes, your nose and your lips won't ever be forgotten by me. Do you know why?" he demanded, she didn't have to reply, he would say the next sentence the same way.

Cynthia moved her lips 'no' but no sound was made.

"Because I love you, Cynthia," said Jeremy.

He approached of her, his lips wanted desperately to touch hers who seemed to be thousands of kilometres away. He was kissing her, Cynthia knew it but she could do anything, she thought about every moment they had passed in the academy, those three days observing him sleeping. Now she was sure, she loved him too. She kept thinking of him as he approached his lips of hers, they were millimeters between them. Cynthia was still thinking of the way they had met, trying to remember when she fell in love and suddenly the image of her best friend and Jeremy's girlfriend Artio came to her head.

Cynthia turned her face and he kissed her cheek, "Jeremy you love Artio, not me!" she said, thinking she was screaming but in fact she was whispering.

"Artio?" he asked, a confused face, "Who is Artio?"

******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********

Read? Review!

Yay, another chapter! I am so glad I finished it! This is big, I know, but remember that it will have one more chapter only and an epilogue until the end. In this chapter many things have happened, almost two months have passed although in the other nine chapters almost a week had passed… I hope you have liked this one, I'm ready to hear from you. Please leave a review. 

Another A/N: Túlia helped a lot with her sentences to the development of this chapter. When needed I have added a few Author Notes when it happened so you could point where they are. Túlia thank you o much.

Next Chapter: How the hell can Jeremy don't remember Artio? Yes, they were in love for more than two months! Stella will have her word to say, she didn't like to depend on Cynthia once, remember? How will she react when Cynthia tells her that Jeremy simply doesn't know who's her daughter? What about Captain Dolphin? Will he continue hiding what he did with Jeremy? What if someone discovers? I'll let you all know the answer for these questions soon. Have fun!

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Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and **post reviews ****here**.

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	11. unexpected Things

Title: Lusitania (11/12)  
  
Author name: siriuswhite  
  
Author email: siriuswhite@schnoogle.com  
  
Category: Romance  
  
Sub Category: Mystery  
  
Keywords: Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA  
  
Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?  
  
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
  
Author notes: Thanks to my beta-readers Jo and Trinity, who beta-ed this chapter attentively. Thanks to Nentari who reviewed the previous chapter (twice!), and Anise.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Lusitania  
  
  
  
  
  
BY S I R I U S W H I T E  
  
  
  
  
  
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ELEVENTH CHAPTER  
  
UNEXPECTED THINGS  
  
  
  
  
  
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He approached her, his lips wanted desperately to touch hers, that seemed to be thousands of kilometres away. He was kissing her, Cynthia knew it but she could notdo anything, she thought about every moment they had passed in the academy, those three days observing him sleeping. Now she was sure, she loved him too. She kept thinking of him as his lips approached hers, there were millimeters between them. Cynthia was still thinking of the way they had met, trying to remember when she fell in love and suddenly the image of her best friend and Jeremy's girlfriend Artio came to her head.  
  
Cynthia turned her face and he kissed her cheek, "Jeremy you love Artio, not me!" she said, thinking she was screaming but in fact she was whispering.  
  
"Artio?" he asked, a confused face, "Who is Artio?"  
  
  
  
  
  
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Cynthia was shocked. How could Jeremy pretend that he didn't know who Artio was?  
  
"What do you mean by that?" asked Cynthia, a surprised look on her face. She just couldn't believe what he had said; he just couldn't forget Artio in one day.  
  
"What do I mean by what?" he asked. If someone had been listening to them, that person would swear he was telling the truth, his expression was full of truth. In fact, either he was saying the truth or he really knew how to lie.  
  
"Jeremy, she's your girlfriend. You are crazy about her, you said you loved her forever and everything!" she paused, he was looking at her without saying anything, "Now I see what kind of person you are," she continued, "whenever you have a chance you kiss every girl you can. I should have known this! You don't deserve Artio, you're the worst thing for her!"  
  
Cynthia pushed him and walked away, joining Andrew at the other side of the room. Jeremy stood there, his arms still in the air as if he was holding Cynthia's hand. His eyes were looking in her direction, although actually he couldn't see her because of other people in his line of sight. He was standing up miraculously, he was about to faint. He still didn't understand what Cynthia meant, he didn't know any girl called Artio indeed. And he didn't have a girlfriend.  
  
When Cynthia came near Andrew, he was with some other first year Seagull students, talking. He seemed not to be angry but he wasn't normal either.  
  
"Hey, you're back," he said, pretending to be happy, when Cynthia arrived.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Yes, let's dance," she said. Cynthia wasn't about to give him any explanation for the fact that the dance that she was supposed to dance with Jeremy hadn't stopped yet and she was still there.  
  
He agreed, took her hand and they moved to the center. Cynthia couldn't think about anything but Jeremy's actions. How could he be that way? She was thinking about the way he had pretended that he didn't know Artio; he was the kind of boy that wants to be the best, who has the greatest number of girls at his feet. How could Cynthia love him too? That was indeed the question on Cynthia's mind every two seconds. He was simply her best friend's boyfriend, how could he try to seduce her?Her! If she were any other girl on the school he could be okay, but Artio's best friend?  
  
During the dances she danced with Andrew, she hurt him with her feet. He didn't say anything, he could just stand it. It was a worthy sacrifice, if that meant he could be with her, feeling her heart beating, her nose breathing and her eyes blinking.  
  
  
  
  
  
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In another place, quite distant from Cynthia's thoughts, Artio, Cho Chang and all the other Hogwarts' students, Professors and staff were assisting the Goblet of Fire choose the three competitors for the Triwizard Tournament.  
  
Cho Chang was very happy when her beloved boy's name was released, Cedric Diggory would certainly win the Triwizard Tournament, she was sure.  
  
The three competitors, Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons and Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, had walked to a different room, where they would know the details of the tasks, the schedule itself and some other classified stuff.  
  
When they prepared to leave the common room someone noticed that the Goblet of Fire was trembling again, it would release another name.  
  
'Harry Potter!' the name was announced to the room, full of people.  
  
Cho Chang whispered to Artio, "He must have been chosen, of course, a star isn't a star when it's not on the light."  
  
Artio saw the boy standing up, a dazed expression of confusion. He avoided her eyes; she looked at Cho where his eyes wouldn't certainly look into hers.  
  
"But how can he be a competitor?" Cho continued, "He is not old enough!" she was protesting. Artio knew that she was more upset for the fact that her boy wasn't the only competitor from Hogwarts; he would be in the shadow of the younger one.  
  
"I don't know," Artio said, and when he entered the room she did not have to be preoccupied with not looking at his eyes, "Someone had trapped the Goblet of Fire, that person wanted him in the tournament, even if he wasn't old enough. You know that what the goblet chooses is what counts," this she had heard from Dumbledore some seconds ago.  
  
"Yes, no matter if Hogwarts had a player or not. but I'm sure Cedric will win this, will win to the Boy Who Lived, finally someone will be better than he is."  
  
Artio nodded, when he turned to look at another place, she felt a shock of pain on her left arm, she knew that the snake was appearing on the same place of the pain. She avoided looking at it, Cho would notice. She almost fainted with that pain but then but then she realized that Harry couldn't be making that, and looked through the room to see if someone was looking at her.  
  
There was a person, an old man, looking in her direction and, as the other time, when he looked away the pain stopped, like if it hadn't been there. Artio became preoccupied, so far two people made her feel such pain, and now she had to avoid one more person.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Cynthia and Andrew were too tired to continue dancing, they had not sat down for more than two hours and they felt they needed to do that now.  
  
Cynthia has already woken up from her thoughts, she had whispered some words in Andrew's ear, although not much, and some thoughts were still in her head.  
  
Many people was gone now, it was late. Cynthia herself was about to tell Andrew that she would go to the dorm, only Monica and Ariane were there, at least they were the only ones she could see, the others should be upstairs. But she didn't, because she saw Captain Dolphin, who was talking to Professor Stormd'sky, who was really his sister.  
  
"Cynthia, how are you?" he asked, and turned to his sister, "Professor Stormd'sky, this is Cynthia Tropelt, a good Dolphin student, at least in my class."  
  
She knew that he was just finding some an excuse for the fact that he was introducing her; in fact she was not a good student at Astronomy at all.  
  
"Ah, yes, I know her," said the woman, "She's a good Dolphin, yes."  
  
Cynthia nodded, smiled, and finally the woman went away saying she would be right back.  
  
"So how's he doing?" asked Captain Dolphin, no need to say who was him, she knew it, "Have you seen any difference since before and now?"  
  
"He's doing well," she said, "But I've asked him about Artio, some unimportant things and I was surprised that he said he didn't know her." Cynthia wouldn't tell him the truth, he was not supposed to know about Artio and Jeremy's relationship, but that was a way for knowing what was going on.  
  
"Oh, of course he doesn't," he said, as if it was the most normal thing on the world, "I have cast the Oblivio Personalle spell on him, haven't you seen?"  
  
"What?" she hadn't seen anything; she didn't know what was that, "What does that means?"  
  
"How don't you know? Cynthia, remember that this spell broke the effect that he, when he was Patrick, made on Artio. He wasn't supposed to be affected by the thing so I make him forget everything related with Artio, he had never seen Artio and every conversation he and other people had about her, he just doesn't remember, for him, those conversations had not happened. As Artio was here just a few days there is no problem with that, is there?"  
  
Cynthia was stupefied, how could he do that to a person? And how would she deal with it now?  
  
"No, there's no problem, I just have to avoid talking with him about Artio," she said.  
  
"Okay. That's a good idea. Both he and Artio won't be affected by the Controlactus spell anymore, just like if it hadn't been cast on them."  
  
"And. Has Artio forgot about him too?" Cynthia asked.  
  
"No, we just broke the spell on her, we didn't cast the other. She'll remember Patrick and everything. She didn't know that she was under the Controlactus or did you tell her?"  
  
"No."  
  
"So, I had told her that Patrick could have that effect on a person, I didn't say that it would have. So she thinks that I was wrong, that the thing I said wouldn't happen. It's easy, and it's safe for both of them." He was proud of his cleverness; Cynthia could see that in his eyes.  
  
Now she had to stand that, she didn't know how, but she would. Her next step was to make Jeremy love Artio again, and that was a difficult task indeed.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Sitnalta Island, 1st November 1994.  
  
  
  
  
  
Last night I learned of a most cruel thing, Captain Dolphin made Jeremy forget Artio. I don't know how he can be so cruel, he just cleaned up every memory he had of Artio. He says that it's good for both of them, I don't know what is good in the whole thing, but if he says so, it must be some good anywhere.  
  
  
  
  
  
I'm afraid I almost kissed him in the Halloween Ball, and that means that I have some feelings for him. I don't know how but I have to tell him that I don't love him.  
  
  
  
  
  
I thought he was a bad person, that he just wanted to kiss me as all the other girls on the face of Earth.  
  
  
  
  
  
I know that since he woke up he had tried to be near me, he almost talked to me every day, but I thought it was just because I was her girlfriend's best friend. That time he didn't know who she was anymore. I was stupid. I didn't really ask him anything, now that I think about it I remember that I haven't asked him anything about Artio. I received her owls, as I thought he did too, so I needn't to ask him about Artio. How could I be so stupid?  
  
  
  
  
  
This afternoon I received her last owl, she said that Jeremy haven't written back to her for almost one week, she thought that the owl he sent had lost her way, the distance between the two places is huge for an owl to fly, she says. I will write back to her saying that I will tell that to Jeremy, and I'll explain him the whole thing that happened. Then he'll have to write her back like if everything is normal.  
  
  
  
  
  
There's also another bad thing, Artio said that during the Ceremony of the Goblet of Fire she felt a shock of pain, exactly as the other time when Harry Potter was looking at her. But now she is sure it wasn't him who made that, she said that Dumbledore was looking at her. She'll have to avoid his looking too, and she's preoccupied, thinking who else will make her feel bad like that.  
  
  
  
  
  
I myself think that both events have a reason, related with what Stella let me know about Artio, her father and both Artio and Stella's marks. As Harry Potter made Lord Voldemort disappear, there is a between link between the two of them. As Artio has His blood, when Harry looks at her she feel like that. The same happens with Albus Dumbledore, he's the one who the Dark Lord fears, so the same pain makes Artio feel bad. I'll report my theory to Stella, tomorrow, if I see her, and I'll see if she thinks the same as me or not.  
  
  
  
  
  
Ah, I almost forgot, Artio reports about the sorting of the Champions for the Triwizard Tournament. The Goblet of Fire was supposed to choose three students, one from each school, Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. She told me that the Goblet released another name, Harry Potter, and she says that the thing was planned; a trap was made. She and Cho Chang think that it was someone who doesn't want The Boy Who Lived not to be a Champion of such an event, and so that person found a way of putting him in.  
  
  
  
  
  
I haven't talked to Jeremy yet but I'll talk to him tomorrow morning, as well as Stella, and I'll let him explain everything, he'll understand.  
  
  
  
  
  
P.S. - Andrew and I have been having meals together, in the afternoon, talking about the previous night and I think he isn't angry with me. Well I know that no one heard Jeremy and I talking but he could have not liked my dance with Jeremy.  
  
P.S. 2 - Amanda keeps her nocturnal chess games with Barbara. This week I haven't attended every day because of Jeremy and everything. I've heard that normally Professors organize a Chess Challenge here in the academy; I heard that it is during the spring months and so it's possible. I'll have to ask Anaras as she was here last year. That'd be good for Amanda.  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia T.  
  
  
  
  
  
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That Sunday was the hardest in Cynthia's life; she still had no way to talk with Jeremy. Now she knew why Jeremy was looking stupid, he didn't know why Cynthia treated him that way, by his point of view she had been so rude! Now she knew indeed he had reasons for being angry with her.  
  
Cynthia walked down the stairs for the Common Room; Jeremy was having lunch with the other Dolphin boys.  
  
Cynthia noticed that some Dolphin girls were having lunch too and she joined them in the other side of the table.  
  
"Hi," she said, "May I sit here?" she asked. They were in Cynthia's house too but they weren't her best friends though.  
  
"Sure," said Susan Amparo. She was talking with Sarah Wolf, Katie Turner and Madeleine Pustrin.  
  
Cynthia tried to understand what they were talking about but it was in vain, they seemed to have a code, Cynthia didn't understand any word they were saying, they were certainly insane.  
  
Cynthia ate quickly. When she finished her soup, her friends appeared on the Common Room, Amanda, Monica, Natasha and Ariane.  
  
"Cynthia!" exclaimed Ariane, sitting near her, "We are late but as it is Sunday and we have no classes there isn't trouble," she grinned.  
  
The other girls sat next to Ariane, they almost didn't talk to the other 'group'.  
  
"Amanda won this game against Barbara," Natasha let Cynthia know, "finally. But it took longer than they were expecting so we are late to lunch."  
  
"Yes," Ariane agreed, "Um, what will you do during the afternoon?" she asked, they seemed to have planned the entire day and they would invite Cynthia to go with them.  
  
"Me? I, Um, I don't know, I have to finish my Transfiguration homework and then-"  
  
"Cynthia, today is Sunday, Sun-day!" Amanda interrupted, "Are you going to be locked inside this old building?"  
  
"I know it's Sunday. Okay, where do you go?"  
  
"We were planning to go explore the fields out there. In fact we noticed that we only went to the fields to have Flying, Herbology and a few other things, we don't know our own schoolyards, that's unacceptable!"  
  
"Okay, I'll go with you," said Cynthia, remembering about the tree house. She wouldn't tell them she knew about tree house, very cool. They would kill her for the fact she hadn't told them before.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Jeremy was sitting on the tree house bed when a black haired head appeared on the wooden ladder, followed by other four, with different colors.  
  
"Jeremy!" exclaimed the last girl climbing the ladder, "what are you doing here?" it was Amanda.  
  
"Well," he began, taking a look at Cynthia, "I have been coming here. with Cynthia."  
  
"What?" asked Natasha looking to Cynthia, "why didn't you tell us about this tree-house? This is fantastic, how could you hide it from us?"  
  
"I." Cynthia knew they were right, but it was Captain Dolphin who told her about it, and she was supposed not to tell anyone, but how would she explain that to her friends? "I had come here some months ago, in the beginning of the term, I just forgot about this because this starts to become boring when you come here often," it was the best explanation she could make up.  
  
"Boring? How can you call this boring?" Amanda demanded, looking to the tree-house roof, which had some tree leaves, "this is fantastic!"  
  
"Yes," Jeremy seemed to agree, "we went here some time ago and we almost forgot about it, I was around here when I remembered and then I climbed the ladder." He was trying to change the subject so the other girls wouldn't ask Cynthia why she didn't tell them about the tree-house.  
  
"Oh, by the way," Cynthia began, it was the moment for the chat she was expecting to have with Jeremy, there could be any other moment better than that, "I wanted to talk to Jeremy in the morning, could you leave us alone?"  
  
Natasha was going to ask some thing, Cynthia noticed, but Amanda cut her thoughts. "Okay," she said, "we'll be searching for some other cool places, see you later."  
  
Cynthia and Jeremy stood there, seeing them climbing down the ladder and, when there was no sign of the girls, Cynthia turned to Jeremy. "We have to talk." It wasn't a question; he couldn't say that he didn't want in that moment, she wouldn't let him go.  
  
His eyes were shining, Cynthia seemed different from the Halloween ball night, "Alright." He said and sat on the wooden bed waiting for her to talk.  
  
Cynthia prepared herself mentally to let him know everything.  
  
"I will try to tell you everything about Artio and you and what happened," she began, "Artio was the target of the Contrulacus spell which was cast in her by Patrick who was, in fact, you."  
  
"Me?" he asked, not understanding anything or why he didn't remember about that.  
  
"Yes, let me continue," she said, "someone cast a spell on you, then you went to Artio and gave her a drink, which had the potion of the spell. As you were also some secondary target you were in danger almost as mush as she."  
  
Jeremy was looking at her, and listened her words as if it was a tale, his eyes were saying that the story wasn't true but, well, he loved Cynthia and so he would do anything she asked him to.  
  
"Captain Dolphin explained me what happened to you both and, as the person who cast the spells on you and Artio could control her, that might affect you too. So he asked me to learn a spell to break the spell that was cast in you, and that would also break the Controlactus spell on Artio."  
  
"So she and I were being controlled?" asked Jeremy.  
  
"Yes, kind of, you weren't but you could be, anytime that person wanted. I agreed with what Captain told me, I would help him to break your and Artio's spells. But he didn't know, I mean, he doesn't know that you and Artio were in love." She took a brief look at him to see if he was still listening. "I had to win points which I would trade in the Library for the spell book. Captain Dolphin wanted me to do everything on my own, he didn't want to teach me the spell because if someone discovered, he would never be seen as the one who helped me, if someone discovered everything would fall on my shoulders."  
  
"But it was his idea, right?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"Yes. Well, you and Artio have been sending owls each other for more than two months; I thought everything was all right with you two. One day in September Artio's mother appeared in the academy."  
  
He raised his eyebrow. "How?"  
  
"She is an Animagus, a Glumbumble."  
  
"Is she the Glumbumble that Amanda offered you?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, she told me that Artio was in danger because she was the one who has the Lusitania artifact, it was born with her-"  
  
"What?" he asked, surprised. "Is she the one? Lusitania is with her?" he knew as much about the artifact as the other students, he had been in the History of Magic classes and he had been paying attention to that subject.  
  
"Yes, it is because she's in danger, it is because she has been the target of the spell, and you too. The power of the artifact can help the Dark Lord to revive, if the Death Eaters take it away from Artio, I mean, if they kill Artio," a tear appeared on her right eye, Cynthia sustained it, she wouldn't cry.  
  
"I don't believe this!" He said. "You're saying that I was the Lusitania owner's boyfriend? Oh my god!"  
  
"Yes, you are her boyfriend," Cynthia said, a special tone on the 'are', "Jeremy, she loves you, I am sure you love her too, you just don't remember. She needs you, she doesn't know anything about this, she doesn't know about the artifact, she doesn't know about the legend."  
  
"Yes, I know, you've just said," said Jeremy.  
  
"Yes. let me continue. Before we arrived at the academy, on the ship, Artio found out that her parents had divorced. As she was going to live with her father, she went to London and she's now attending Hogwarts. In the last month Stella, who's Artio's mother, went to the Library and copied the spell for me because the points I had won wouldn't be enough for borrowing the book and, if I didn't learn the spell you would pass this entire year under control of someone. Then I practiced how to do it for weeks and when I was ready I let Captain Dolphin know. Some days after, he and I cast the spell on you, which break the other spells on you and Artio. But he also made sure, oh I won't forgive him for that, he made you forget everything about Artio."  
  
"What?" he couldn't believe in what he was hearing, "I. I was her boyfriend and he made me forget Artio?" Jeremy knew that Captain had no right to do that but it wasn't the most important thing. In fact, she had not a single image of the girl, for him he loved only one girl, the one who was in front of him. He would do anything she asked him, and he was pretending to be upset with what Captain Dolphin had done but actually he wanted to love Cynthia.  
  
"Yes, he did. So, after that you know everything. Now, do you understand why I did that in the Ball?"  
  
"Yes, sure," he said.  
  
"Good. Now, you must write to Artio, she told me that she wasn't receiving your owls; she thinks that the owl died, the distance is huge between the two places. Actually you weren't sending her any owls, and as she is waiting for you to reply she didn't send any too."  
  
"What do you want me to do? Write to her?" he asked, "but I don't know anything about her!" he protested.  
  
"I know. Actually, we are going to write to her every time it's needed. I will tell you what to write, don't worry. So, will you do it?" she smiled.  
  
How could he say no to that smile? "Sure."  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
It was Tuesday and Artio was worried about Jeremy, she hadn't seen a single owl from him for almost two weeks and now one was knocking at the window. She hoped it was from him.  
  
  
  
  
  
My sweet Artio,  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia told me that you weren't receiving my owls. I'm sorry, it must have died of exhaustion, you know the two places are too far away. Why didn't you write me letting me know about that? I didn't know, and I was simply waiting for an answer from you.  
  
  
  
  
  
So, how was your week? I myself went to the Halloween Ball, I have been dancing with Cynthia, we were having fun for a while. It was when he let me know about the owl she received from you.  
  
  
  
  
  
Artio, have I ever told you that I love you? I do.  
  
  
  
  
  
I miss you so much! I want to see you in the Christmas break; we have to manage it. I just noticed I don't have any image from you, I mean, not in my head because there are millions in my mind! Can you send me a photograph? It can be you, with or without your friends; I just want to see you near my bed.  
  
  
  
  
  
I am waiting for your owl every day.  
  
  
  
  
  
Love,  
  
  
  
  
  
Jeremy  
  
  
  
  
  
If Artio knew how hard it was for Cynthia to put Jeremy writing what she was saying she wouldn't like that owl as much as she did.  
  
"Cho!" she called, "Jeremy has finally written me, he said that Cynthia told him about the missing owls."  
  
"Good, what else does he say?" asked the oriental girl.  
  
"He and Cynthia went to the Halloween Ball, they were having fun for a while and that he misses me."  
  
"Oh, he and Cynthia?" asked Cho, "They attended the ball together? I myself would keep an eye on them." she made a weird face.  
  
"Oh come on, I know Cynthia wouldn't do that," Artio knew what Cho Chang meant with that 'together', "she knows that he and I are in love."  
  
"I know, I was just joking!" said the black haired girl, "what else?"  
  
"He wants me to send him a photo. Do you know someone who has a camera?"  
  
"Perhaps." Cho said, smiling.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia looked tired that Saturday morning, she hadn't been sleeping for the most time of the night, she had nightmares about Artio and a man whose face wasn't visible, he must be the image that Cynthia had of the Dark Lord. Plus, she had to invent every love declaration for Jeremy's owls, which were sent every four days, the time that one owl passed going to Hogwarts and back, to Lusitania.  
  
She had already written some owls, the Christmas break was almost there. Although due to climate it wasn't usual to snow in the Azores archipelago, the Professors made sure to enchant it every year, there was no Christmas if there wasn't snow, they usually said.  
  
More than twenty days had passed since the conversation between she and Jeremy in the tree house.  
  
Jeremy himself was in love with Cynthia, the idea of the photo hadn't helped. Cynthia remembered the day when Artio sent the photo; there were she and Cho Chang, her Hogwarts best friend. Sometimes they were flying on their brooms, practicing for the Ravenclaw Seeker position, the oriental girl won much more times than Artio did. Other times Artio looked alone, reading, singing.  
  
Jeremy owned the photo, Cynthia made sure he looked at it in that day but now she doubted that Jeremy still remembered about Artio's face. The owls they sent Artio were a complete lie, he didn't feel anything written on the letters, at least not for Artio, but for Cynthia.  
  
He had tried to kiss Cynthia as many times as a Dolphin jumps in the sea, she had lost the count. She had never let him do it, remembering him that he loved Artio. Actually, asking him to love Artio. And the most difficult thing was that Cynthia herself had some feelings about the boy, which she tried to forget twenty million times a day but they always got back. She wouldn't kiss him, it would be worse for the three, she knew it and Artio was already suffering much in those days because of Lusitania artifact, it wouldn't be fair if Cynthia had some kind of relation with her friend's official boyfriend.  
  
Stella was still there; Cynthia didn't know how she was still alive, eating Glumbumble food. She believed there was something else at the academy that she should know and, as she always said that Artio was safe under Dumbledore's eye, she kept living there and talking to both Jeremy and Cynthia. Cynthia had told her that Jeremy knew everything, she had been upset but finally she accepted the idea. And there was one more lie there, Cynthia made sure that Jeremy asked Stella every time about Artio, the woman was supposed to know that Jeremy and Artio's relationship was going well.  
  
Andrew was still there, unfortunately for her he hadn't vanished from Lusitania, which made her have one more problem to think about, their relationship. In fact Cynthia loved Jeremy, not Andrew, but Jeremy had to love Artio again and Andrew was a good card to play. Cynthia had kissed him some times, when Jeremy could see them; she made sure about that. She was sad because she was using Andrew too, she didn't want to, as she didn't want to do the most of the things she did. He looked happy when they kissed, hoping that it was that time when Cynthia finally decided to tell him the truth, at least those things he thought were true. He asked her if she loved him every time he had a chance and almost every time she simply replied something coded, confusing, about her doubts, their age. She normally asked him if he wasn't feeling good as the thing was going. He was. So she said that she was too, and that things would stand all right as they were.  
  
Cynthia remembered every lie she had been telling, every stealthy move she had made. She wasn't like that. She had known it for ages but she had to keep doing everything like before, everything that was needed for Artio to be safe and happy. The same question spun around her mind at least one million times per day, 'When would she stop lying?'  
  
Cynthia was living with a complete dilemma.  
  
But now it was time to get up and fly away from her thoughts about everything.  
  
Monica opened her mouth to say 'good morning' when she noticed Cynthia was waking up, the Brazilian girl was also looking sleepy. She and the other girls had gone to the Chess Room or other empty one to play chess, Amanda and Barbara were good friends outside the chessboard, they had had good moments, sharing their things, doing homework together. The Whale girl helped the Dolphins many times; they were good friends. On the other hand, when she and Amanda were playing, it seemed like they had never seen each other, they put everything away and fought their own battle. Monica was still attending the Chess games, as well as the other Dolphin girls bar Cynthia. Cynthia had left their group from day to day, not noticing what she was doing but because she had needed to go to the Library, or outside the castle to talk to Stella, or to be with Jeremy to write their letters for Artio, or to be with Andrew making Jeremy forget her.  
  
She stood up, went to the bathroom besides their dormitory. After brushing her teeth, she had a quick shower and did everything a fourteen-year-old girl would do in the morning.  
  
When she walked downstairs to have breakfast in the Common Room, she found Andrew in the Great Hall.  
  
"Hey," he said, "did you sleep well?" he smiled.  
  
"Not very well," she replied, "you?"  
  
"I did."  
  
Cynthia made her way to the Common Room; she was hungry. Andrew followed her. When they entered, Jeremy noticed she was with Andrew and he was jealous. The boy made his way to his own table and Cynthia went to the Dolphin table, where Jeremy was, but she didn't sit near him.  
  
After breakfast, when it was time to receive mail, an owl left a small roll of parchment in Cynthia's place. She opened it and read.  
  
Come find me in the tree house. Don't bring Jeremy, you can explain to him later. There is no good news. Hurry up!  
  
Stella  
  
Cynthia kept looking at the words for a while and then realized she could go outside at that moment, it was Saturday and there were no classes.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Hogwarts had woken up with some craziness that morning. The first task of the Triwizard Tournament would be in a few days and there were defined positions above a great percentage of the students.  
  
Artio herself was going for Cedric, also because Cho was in love with him, but mainly because Harry made her feel pain in her mark and she didn't like the Boy Who Lived at all. She still believed that the Goblet of Fire had been rigged because the most famous boy of the world hadn't been chosen for such an event and he must be there apart from everything.  
  
After breakfast she decided it was today, she must convince Cho giving her beloved boy the letter she had written more than two months ago.  
  
"Cho, come on, what would you lose?" she said.  
  
"My pride?" the other guessed, "I don't know. Artio I have no sign about his love for me. What you've said is not enough."  
  
"What?" that was a good opportunity, it would work, "don't you believe what I say? I saw how he was looking at you the other night. I see how he looks at you every day. If he's not in love with you, then he knows how to pretend, he must have attended some theatre group!"  
  
"It's not that I don't believe in you, I do-"  
  
"So.? It's decided, you'll give him the letter, okay?"  
  
The other girl smiled, she wanted to do it much more than Artio, she really loved the boy, but she would die if he said 'no'. That was her problem.  
  
After a while remembering his face she said, "okay."  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia went out of the castle. She made sure that Jeremy hadn't seen her.  
  
Before she reached the tree house, almost in the middle of the road between the tree and the castle, she found Carldonne.  
  
"Hey," she greeted, "how are you?"  
  
He didn't look fine, "Good," was the word that came out but his eyes showed other feeling. Cynthia noticed that but as she didn't have time to talk to him she just said, "see you later."  
  
She thought it could be something between him and Anaras, they weren't very good lately although Cynthia had done everything she could to see them happy.  
  
In the tree house Stella, still in her Animagus shape, was waiting for her, thinking that she could've lost.  
  
When Cynthia climbed up the ladder Stella transformed into human, now she was safe, no one would see her as a woman.  
  
"You finally show up," she said furiously, "do you know how hard it was for me to wait for you to come?"  
  
"Yes," the girl seemed to agree, "but I didn't have a chance to come before now."  
  
"I have no good news," the blonde woman looked to her eyes making sure she was prepared to listen.  
  
Cynthia nodded as a sign of 'speak', and it was what the woman did.  
  
"Things are not running as I have planned," she began, "Hogwarts is not the safest place for Artio to be right now."  
  
"But how? You guaranteed to me that it was-"  
  
"It was; it is not. Her father can't find her there, I know that, but-"  
  
Cynthia didn't understand, "So how is she in danger, if he can't reach her then there is no problem."  
  
Stella smiled, "It is more complicated than you think it is. I also thought that way, and it made my life turn around completely. there is no problem if it was only the Dark Lord the one who could hurt her."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Cynthia, "What is only supposed to mean?"  
  
"I meant it. Artio isn't safe at Hogwarts, I've discovered that just some hours ago, no matters how. Dumbledore accepted her at the school because there he could keep an eye on what she was doing. But it wouldn't be enough, not for him, he wanted to make sure that Voldemort would never take Lusitania."  
  
"How? What is he going to do?"  
  
"He. he will kill Artio, then he'll take the artifact from her and keep it."  
  
"I can't believe!" Cynthia was kind of. disgusted, "how can he do that? He's supposed to protect people from the Dark Side, not kill people!"  
  
"I know, but remember. if he kills Artio he is protecting people from the Dark Side!"  
  
Cynthia couldn't understand how Stella, Artio's mother could say that as if to kill Artio was like to kill a fly.  
  
"What can I do?" she asked.  
  
Stella looked at Cynthia; the girl was really smart, "How did you know that I was going to ask you to do anything?"  
  
"Well. it's easy. You wouldn't tell me those things if I didn't have to know them, which means that I have to do some thing. Right?"  
  
"Right. We have to save her from Dumbledore. Now she's in the middle of the year but anyways I can ask lawyer to talk to Archibald and call Artio to come live with me, and study here at Lusitania academy.  
  
Cynthia's eyes shined happily, it would be great, "I'd love to have Artio here at the academy, it would be fun! What do I have to do?"  
  
"We have to wait for Christmas break. I know that Dumbledore is planning to do it in the beginning of the New Year, which means that she's safe now. I know that Archibald told her about my lie. Artio doesn't like me as before because he told her it was my fault, the divorce. But I'm sure she will make an effort to come pass the holiday with me. because you'll be there!"  
  
"Will I?" asked Cynthia.  
  
"Yes, that's what I was going to ask you, come to my house in the Christmas break, you'd meet Artio-"  
  
"Of course, yes, I will go." She had no doubt.  
  
"Great!" the woman said. Then she smiled at Cynthia and flew away, after becoming a Glumbumble.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey."  
  
Cynthia turned as she heard the voice behind her. It was Andrew.  
  
"Hi," she replied.  
  
"I haven't seen you since Saturday. What happened?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing," she replied, it was true. She had finally said something that was really true!  
  
"So what have you been so occupied with?"  
  
That Thursday had been kind of complicated, Jeremy had tried to kiss her in the morning; Monica had had some accident after lunch, breaking her ankle and at that moment she was in the Hospital Wing. Two hours ago Stella had told her that she had just sent a letter to Artio's father, which would arrive in London in about two days; and Artio's owl had arrived just ten minutes ago, talking about the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.  
  
"Many things," she finally replied, he would appreciate a simple answer, that was the most simple she thought about.  
  
Andrew was always so cool, he really cared about her, but she didn't love him, not anything else but a friend only. She knew he deserved her to love him, he was the greatest person she had met and she didn't like to see him sad.  
  
"Oh," he knew that she didn't want to explain anything else about those many things so he didn't insist.  
  
"I have to go to the Hospital Wing," she said, "do you want to come with me?"  
  
"Yes," was the answer. He didn't ask why or who was there, he simply would go wherever she wanted him to.  
  
In the third floor, Monica was laying down on a bed. As they entered, she turned in their direction. "Hey, finally someone comes to visit me!" she said.  
  
"Well," Cynthia began, "I thought Amanda was with you here, and then Natasha, they had told me they would be here-"  
  
"Yes, yes, they had been, in the last century." she smiled, "this is boring here. I want to get well soon!"  
  
"I hope you get well soon! Madame Shalbourn will fix your ankle with a spell or will you have to stay here and wait for time?"  
  
"No, she'd already done the spell, my ankle is almost good. It only hurts a bit. I will stay here until tomorrow for observation."  
  
"Oh, that must be boring." Andrew finally opened his mouth.  
  
"Yes, it is." Monica agreed.  
  
"So. do you want me to lend you anything?" asked Cynthia.  
  
"Ah, if you don't mind." she smiled evilly, "err, I have subscribed to the TeenWizard magazine. it should have arrived this morning. Can you take a look on the dorm to check who has it?"  
  
"TeenWizard?" Cynthia hasn't heard about that one.  
  
"Yes, it's not very popular. but it has some cute boys!"  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Sitnalta Island, 30th November 1994.  
  
  
  
  
  
Today was chaos. Mondays were not full of classes, for the contrary, we have the morning free of classes. It wasn't classes, it was. Jeremy.  
  
  
  
  
  
I avoid him more than ever. Artio writes to him but I think I'm the one who reads her owls. This way he will never love her, ever! I've told him about what Stella told me; he agreed to come with me but just because of me, not because of Artio. I think she'll notice that he doesn't love her anymore.  
  
  
  
  
  
Why did Captain Dolphin have to do that Obliviate? Dammit!  
  
  
  
  
  
Monica is fine now, it seems that nothing happened to her. I don't need to say about Amanda; if I had to call her with a code name, then she would be 'pawn'.  
  
  
  
  
  
Andrew found me yesterday, we were having some fun, I showed him the tree house; I thought he deserved a discovery. I didn't let him kiss me.  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia T.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
The third day of December was cold, the snow spell was still working, and now it snowed almost every time, except on the Quidditch fields, because of the Flying lessons.  
  
It was almost dinnertime and Cynthia walked downstairs with her friends.  
  
Anaras was reading a book in the Common Room. In fact, she was looking over the book, waiting for the first year girls to go out.  
  
When the other group of girls exited the room too, she went to the first year girls' dormitory. As she hoped, no one was there.  
  
She had to be quick.  
  
After searching for a while, she finally found it. It had a blue cover and in its front was written Diary.  
  
She took it and went out of the first year girls dormitory, just in time; when she entered the Common Room Susan Amparo entered from the corridor. She seemed to have forgotten some thing because she went out in seconds and went outside again.  
  
Anaras entered her own dormitory, left the book and hoped that Cynthia didn't want to write in it that night. Then she walked downstairs and joined the others to have dinner.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia woke up early that morning; it was the first time she had woken up so early on a Sunday.  
  
After going to bathroom and arrange her things she was going to have Breakfast when an owl entered by the window of the common room.  
  
There were only five people there, fifth years. They were looking sleepy because they had been studying for all the night. Cynthia took a brief look at them and then back to the letter.  
  
  
  
  
  
Dear Cynthia,  
  
My exams have already started; I had some free minutes from a study break so I wrote you this owl.  
  
Jeremy is so sweet! He just sent me quotes of romantic books, I must say that they're beautiful sentences. What is more is that he said that he made them up! I must confess that I had read every book which he quoted. Well, what counts is his intention.  
  
My trainings with Cho have stopped for now, because of exams. She didn't have enough courage to tell Cedric Diggory that she loved him. I try to convince her to do it every day but she doesn't.  
  
And you? You've just told me about your friends right there. isn't there any boy? I'm sure there is!  
  
I'll have to go back to study, I'll write you back when your owl arrives.  
  
Your friend,  
  
Artio Sperios  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia was angry, what a bad morning, she would have been better off to not wake up.  
  
Artio said that she knew every quote in Jeremy's owls! Dammit, it had been so hard for Cynthia to find that quotes to rewrite in Jeremy's owls!  
  
She wrote some quick note to send to Artio, perhaps the words didn't make sense but she didn't care.  
  
After having breakfast she walked to the owlery and chose another owl to make the journey to Hogwarts.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia wasn't the only one waking up early that Sunday. Anaras herself had finished reading Cynthia's diary. It had lots of secrets, Captain Dolphin was right when asked her to take it. After having breakfast she made her way to his office, where she was in the moment.  
  
"I read it," Anaras said, "she wrote lots of interesting things in it." she took the diary and put it on his desk.  
  
He took it and started reading, it would certainly be boring, Anaras thought. She had passed almost three days reading it.  
  
"I will call you when I've finished reading this," he said, not taking his eyes away from the yellowed pages.  
  
She went outside and walked down, to the fields. The sea was not calm at all, December was a bad month for fishing, there was wind and rain and thundering.  
  
She would receive an owl asking to go to his office in two hours, and then she would come down again, sad, irritated, tired and feeling guilty.  
  
Although it was true, if someone had told that to her in that moment, she wouldn't believe.  
  
  
  
  
  
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****  
  
  
  
  
  
Cynthia had found Carldonne some days ago; he and Anaras were not completely all right.  
  
Carldonne thought that Anaras was strange in the last months, she was stressed and she was always scared with some student around them.  
  
He already loved Anaras, and so did she; he was the one she would search for if she had a problem, she was sure he would accept her.  
  
That was what she did.  
  
That beautiful snowy December afternoon became very sad for both of them and some other people.  
  
After hugging her for almost ten minutes he finally asked what was going on.  
  
She couldn't reply, she was crying.  
  
After a while, when she calmed down, she opened her mouth.  
  
"It's all my fault." She said.  
  
"What happened? What was your fault?" asked Carldonne.  
  
"Artio. Your cousin is in danger and I wasn't able to do anything for her, I helped him doing it! God, where was my mind when I did that?"  
  
"Who? Will he hurt Artio? What have you done?"  
  
"Captain Dolphin." she finally said the words.  
  
Carldonne looked at her without thinking, he couldn't believe that Captain Dolphin, 'the one who was never sad' had done something to his cousin. She had written him some days ago; everything seemed to be all right.  
  
"Can you tell me everything, step by step?" that was the only way he could understand what Anaras meant.  
  
"Artio owns the Lusitania artifact," she said, "We learnt about that last year in History of Magic, remember?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You know about the legend, right? Voldemort's followers want to kill Artio and obtain Lusitania. If they can do that, they will make him come back and the Wizarding world will be destroyed. She has not enough strength to face the Death Eaters."  
  
"And what had Captain Dolphin done?"  
  
"He cast a spell on Craig, in the ship, and he made up something about a spell and Patrick. everything was made up by him. With that, the boy made Artio become under Captain Dolphin's control. I helped him, because he told me it would be good for you, as your cousin wouldn't be in danger anymore. He promised me he wouldn't do anything with her, he just wanted to make sure that he could control her if someone attacked Artio."  
  
She paused for a while and then continued, "more than one month ago he realized that the first year boy, his name is Jeremy, shouldn't be target of something that happened to her. As they had some link because of the Patrick incident, Captain Dolphin convinced Cynthia to cast another spell on Jeremy. The girl just did it, with his help. Captain Dolphin lost Artio's control because he broke the boy's spell but he thought it was preferable; if something happened to her now, he wouldn't even notice. He also made him forget about every memory he had about Artio. I thought everything was all right, and so did he; Suddenly, a week ago, he asked me to search for some kind of memorable thing that Cynthia had written, he was sure there was something he didn't know."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"I walked into the first year girls dorm and took her diary, she really had one. I read it and I discovered that Jeremy was in love with Artio. That was a new thing, Captain Dolphin didn't know about that. The spell that Captain cast on the boy made him forget Artio and then Cynthia had a lot of trouble dealing with them; she wrote in the diary that she had tried to make Jeremy love Artio again but she had no success. In her diary there is also written about Artio's mother, who is somewhere in the academy. I told Captain Dolphin about that and he was upset."  
  
"My aunt?" asked Carldonne, "Stella?"  
  
"Yes. She's somewhere in Lusitania. She is an Animagus, a Glumbumble. Now, Captain Dolphin knows that Dumbledore, Hogwarts' headmaster, wants to take Lusitania from Artio. His plan is to kill her and take the artifact in a safe place, where Voldemort's followers can't get it. They also plan an attack on Artio so the Captain doesn't know who will catch her first."  
  
She started crying again, Carldonne hugged her.  
  
"Carldonne, I. Captain Dolphin will get her, he."  
  
The tears were falling like rain, she couldn't continue talking about Artio's fate like she did. Carldonne was worried about what would happen to Artio but he respected Anaras's feelings and didn't ask her anything. He knew she would talk again in good time. He simply kept hugging and comforting her.  
  
Now he understood why she was strange during those months, she had been helping Captain Dolphin to do a horrible thing.  
  
"He will kill Artio himself," she said. Carldonne was looking at her and made an effort to ask her only, without asking questions. "He. he told me that Artio would be killed by the Death Eaters or by Dumbledore. He said that it would happen, sooner or later. It is Artio's fate. so he decided that, if she would die anyways, at least the Lusitania artifact should come back to the academy. He would do the job by himself, if it meant that Lusitania would be at its rightful place, inside that castle," she raised her hand, pointing the entrance door of the castle with her finger.  
  
Carldonne was crying; his girlfriend had gone through all those things alone. He had been out of touch with her; he hadn't asked her what was going on. He simply didn't like how she was acting and didn't make any effort to talk with her. It was his fault too.  
  
"When will he do it?" Carldonne finally asked.  
  
"He's gone. I don't know where he is now."  
  
"We have to alert Cynthia. As you said, she knows about my aunt Stella. They must have some idea."  
  
  
  
  
  
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"I knew he would find out," said Stella, "I just didn't expect that he would do it! Oh my god!"  
  
"It can't be true," said Cynthia, "he told me that we would cast the spell on Jeremy so that they wouldn't be in danger anymore! What will we do now?"  
  
"We have to tell. Gilbert," Stella didn't want to tell him but she had no other choice.  
  
"What if we ask Uncle Archibald to send an owl to Hogwarts asking them to let Artio come home sooner than the Christmas break?" asked Carldonne.  
  
"No!" Stella cut him off, "Archibald. just no. I don't want to talk to him, I don't want to explain him everything, and he won't forgive me."  
  
"I should have told you about Captain Dolphin's plans before! It's my fault!" Anaras wouldn't forgive herself; she was acting like a house-elf.  
  
"No, he would go on with his plan any way, even if you haven't helped him." Stella didn't want Anaras to feel guilty.  
  
"Stella, I think that we should advise Mr. Sperios," Cynthia said, "and Jeremy. Perhaps he can help in some way, Artio loves him."  
  
"Please, don't," Stella asked Cynthia.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Gilbert Stormd'sky showed ready to help, his passion for Artio's mother had been more than that, for him. When he read who had signed the letter he just said okay.  
  
Stella's plan was, in the first phase, to find out where Robin Stormd'sky was. That was the name they - Cynthia, Anaras, Carldonne, Jeremy and Stella - called Captain Dolphin; they felt that he didn't deserve the title of 'captain'.  
  
Professor Shayra had told the entire school that they wouldn't have Astronomy for an unknown period of time. Cynthia had listened to her without saying anything. She suspected that Professor Shayra didn't know where her brother was but anyway she couldn't know about anything related to Artio.  
  
That week had passed fast, the school was reaching the end of its semester, which meant final exams. Cynthia didn't have very bad marks, although she knew she could have done better. Natasha had helped her a lot as well as the other Dolphin girls.  
  
The beginning of the second week of December was calmer than the previous in terms of school work and exams. But on Tuesday they learned something horrible. Mr. Sperios sent Cynthia an owl saying that Artio had gone to Portugal, to spend the Christmas holidays with her mother. In fact, Stella had asked Archibald to let Artio go to Portugal, as she has asked Cynthia to go too, but the problem was that Stella didn't say anything else to Archibald about that, she thought Artio was still at school.  
  
Someone had forged Stella's owls to Mr. Sperios. In the name of Stella, Archibald and someone else combined every detail of Artio's travel to Portugal. He sent Cynthia an owl letting her know that Artio had already gone there, but that she wasn't delivering owls as per normal.  
  
The news made a complete revolution between the 'Rescue Group' and the other academy students and staff. They started packing their things and prepared to leave in the first ship that would go to Azores. No one understood why they, especially the four students, were going earlier than the other students, in the Lusitania ship. As the exams were already gone they had no problem in having permission from Professor Shayra and Captain Shark to go away. When they arrived to the Azores archipelago, they took a Muggle plane and flew to Portugal.  
  
The aeroplane was a strange thing. Cynthia knew that it was much quicker than flying on a broom but in the wizard mode it was much more exciting. The tour took almost three hours, as it had had some trouble because of the weather.  
  
She didn't really have any idea of what they were going to do, or where they were going to stay. Cynthia only follow Stella's orders, she trusted the woman.  
  
When they arrived at the airport, in Lisbon, Gilbert Stormd'sky was waiting for them. He looked strange wearing those Muggle clothes.  
  
He hugged Stella and then greeted the students. They followed him. They went by bus to an old building, which was deserted. He had left his dragon there.  
  
"I've been in Italy these last weeks. If I had been at home, in Azores, you could have come with me but I wasn't able to get there," he explained, "how was the flying machine?"  
  
"Not very good," said Stella, "I'm kind of annoyed. Do you know where he is?"  
  
Cynthia suspected that 'he' should be Robin Stormd'sky, Gilbert's brother.  
  
"I have an idea. Let's go."  
  
  
  
  
  
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A dragon flying cage looked very cool at a first impression but it was boring if someone stayed inside of it for six hours, especially if there were six people in it.  
  
They went flying over Portugal until they reached the mountains, near Spain.  
  
"We were born in this area," said Gilbert, "I know a place where Robin could have hidden from us. I'm afraid he's forged your letters," he looked at Stella, "I'm afraid Artio is with him."  
  
Stella's eyes became full of tears; she hoped he hadn't done anything to her daughter.  
  
They left the dragon and walked some meters in the direction of the rocks, to what seemed to be a cavern.  
  
They entered the darkness of that place and the four students murmured, "Lumos!"  
  
The cavern was quite big. When they turned a corner inside the stone 'building' they saw what remained of a green light.  
  
They feared the worst, and started running in the direction of the light.  
  
"He can run for the other entrance," said Gilbert.  
  
In fact, when they walked in front they heard some voices murmuring many spells, then some of them said 'up!' and vanished with the sound of a broom flying near a tree.  
  
[Author's Note: the following scene can be disturbing to some people, so if you are faint of heart, do not read the next few paragraphs]  
  
It was a devastating scenario; two bloody bodies were lying on the stone, which was also full of blood.  
  
Jeremy took a step in front. He wanted to be sure that it was really the girl in the photo. Her blonde hair was unforgettable.  
  
"P. Jeremy!" Her eyes were almost closed but she still saw him and murmured those words with a smile. Her pain had vanished when she saw him, the boy she loved.  
  
He looked at her. He had the sensation that he knew her but he didn't love her, as Cynthia wanted him to. He had only come with the 'Rescue Group' because Cynthia was a member of it. He hadn't come because of Artio.  
  
Artio smiled at him until her eyes lost their light.  
  
The others were now near Jeremy, looking down at Artio's body.  
  
They had arrived too late.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Read? Review!  
  
  
  
  
  
As you should have noticed I don't like happy endings very much.  
  
Next chapter (Epilogue): Did it really happen? Will Artio survive? If she does, how will Jeremy deal with that? If she doesn't what will they - her parents, her brother, her cousin and Cynthia - do? What about Captain Dolphin? Has he died?  
  
Stay tuned for the Epilogue, which will come out soon.  
  
Be a responsible reader, review this chapter. Thanks for reading.  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and post reviews here.  
  
  
  
  
  
*** 


	12. Epilogue Back To Reality

**Author****:** siriuswhite

**Author email****:** siriuswhite@schnoogle.com

**Category****:** Romance.

**Sub-category:** Mystery.

**Keywords****:** Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania

**Spoilers****:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, QTTA and FB.

**Rating****:** PG-13.

**Summary****:** Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?

**Disclaimer****:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned By JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note****:** Thanks to my beta readers for their extremely good work. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter.

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Lusitania 

BY    S I R I U S   W H I T E

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EPILOGUE 

BACK TO REALITY

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The girl closed the dirty book; her eyes were full of tears. Some seconds had been enough for the desk to be wet, due to the girl's tears.

She wasn't expecting that a simple book could make her remember so many things as it did, indeed.

She remembered the pale face of the girl although the image wasn't very clear. Much clearer than that, the boy's face seemed real. His dark hair made her remember about the night, with many stars shining. Many other worlds could exist out there.

A Brazilian voice could be heard calling for dinner. The girl nodded, said that it was okay although she didn't turn to face the Brazilian voice's owner.

The girl walked downstairs, washed her hands and joined the four members of a typical Brazilian family.

The dinner was very tasty, although a bit weird. The girl hadn't adapted well to all those exotic fruits, and different kinds of meat and fish.

The girl replied with a low-toned voice, almost inaudible, and only when someone asked her something.

She had been there for three days. She had been enjoying the trip; a new place could help her forget some things. Why had she read that book?

After dinner, the five of them went out, as they had done the previous nights. They walked for some time near the beach.

When they got back home, the girl said she was feeling sleepy and walked upstairs to her bedroom. Although she was feeling sleepy she knew she couldn't sleep. 

The girl took a new book from her bag. This one had a black cover.

She took out her quill and started writing.

_Rio de Janeiro, 29th July 1995_

_Dear Artio,_

_I finished my first year at Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft. Many things changed after Christmas. Professor Shayra Stormd'sky is now the Captain of the Dolphin house, although she is not as she was. She doesn't live anymore; she survives. Yet she doesn't believe that Robin, her brother, is dead. She didn't forgive Gilbert… remember? When we arrived at the cavern he was still alive and Gilbert let him die…_

_The whole Dolphin house wanted to know every detail about that night. I let Monica, Amanda, Natasha and Ariane know and made them promise no one else would. I trust them. And I think that, even if I didn't, I would tell them because I had to tell someone, I couldn't keep those horrible memories to myself._

_When we calmed down I took the Lusitania artifact from Captain's hands and kept it with me. I think they noticed but they didn't tell me anything. I arrived home three days later… I was with your mother and Gilbert until I could go away. _

_I couldn't sleep for more than five nights. I still don't know what sleeping is… I close my eyes and rest on my bed, but I hear every noise around my room… _

_When I went back to Lusitania, after Christmas, on the tenth of January, I sent it away. It flew for some meters and finally entered the cold blue water. It finally found its own place. Again. After more than fifty years. It is with its origins, dolphins, whales, mermaids, sea gulls, crabs, octopuses and sharks. _

_I looked at it for the last time on the Lusitania Ship. The artifact looked very powerful. It was a heptagon, made of silver, with each one of the seven sea animals on each part of the heptagon. The animals didn't move, which made it seem like a Muggle object. I liked it very much, but its place was the bottom of the sea, where it is, now._

_Your brother and his wife went back to Portugal. He's pretending he is a Muggle, so he can do his research job in a Library, in Mafra… his child is very sweet… and beautiful! Tuverine is pregnant, yes, you'll be aunt definitely… again._

_Gilbert stayed with your mother for some days, after _Thenight_. They weren't dating or something, she just needed someone. As I knew why she had lied to your father, I mean, Archibald. I sent him an owl explaining everything. That was four months after _The_ night… I also sent her an owl letting her know that I had owled him. She was angry with me for some days, as she let me know in her owl. Your father is very understanding. He understood that she had to do that; she had to do what was best for you. They're now living together again. I think they still love each other. Your mother no longer has any relationships with other men like when she was a Dearth Eater._

_Cho Chang owled me several times. She let me know how things were going on at Hogwarts. I almost felt I had been at the Triwizard Tournament… her owls are very good! These months were very hard for both of us. I knew that… In the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric Diggory was murdered by one of Voldemort's followers. I knew that two days ago._

_Amanda is now in a trip to France, there will be a Wizarding Chess championship, she has entered it and she's arriving there tomorrow. I hope she gets a good position; she's very good at playing. Barbara helped her a lot, teaching her many tactics. They're the two Chess addicts of the first years!_

_Monica invited me to come to her home for some time, now, during the summer holidays. However, here in Brazil, seasons are not as in the other hemisphere… That's why I'm here at this city, Rio de Janeiro. Monica has been a good friend; she helped me a lot._

_I don't know how to say this… Voldemort couldn't revive with the power of Lusitania. But one of his followers found another way to do that. It was during the last task of the Triwizard Tournament… Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory were transported to a cemetery where they were. Harry survived, but Cedric wasn't as lucky as him. Cho Chang must be feeling so bad! I imagine how!_

_Andrew was also a great help for me in the last months; he is really a good boy. He understands me perfectly! He's so sweet! Do you believe that, even when I was down, he didn't try to kiss me? I really appreciated that; I wouldn't forgive him if he did it._

_However, Jeremy did try to kiss me. Many times. And some of them, he did. I avoided him in the last weeks. I can't believe he doesn't feel bad! Well… I know he didn't know you and that's why he's all right._

_I still don't know why I am writing this. Actually… I know. It has passed six months and nine days since the death of another innocent person, because of his followers. Six months had passed… and it seems it was just two hours ago. _

_Six months. Since a girl was murdered. Since my best friend was murdered. _

_Six months since another innocent person was killed by The Dark Lord followers. The ones who follow your father's orders. He, who killed his own daughter._

_Six months from the night of your death. _

_I am writing you this letter, but I don't have a reason to do it. I'll keep this diary with letters for you. I know you won't receive them. My owl is thankful to you; it would die of tiredness, because she would fly forever, as she wouldn't be able to find you. I hope you can read this anyways._

_You will ever be my best friend. I still don't forgive myself for doing nothing to help you out. I could, at least, have told you that Jeremy didn't love you anymore. Because his memory had been modified by Captain Dolphin._

_He loves me. I love him. But I love you more. And you deserve my loyalty. And Andrew is a better guy than Jeremy. If I have to choose, I'll choose Andrew. _

_I will find the one who killed you with his own wand, and he'll pay for it. Even if I have to ruin my life._

_I don't know how my life will be since now… I don't know if I have a life. _

_I do know I'll find you. Somewhere. Sometime. _

_Yours forever, _

_Cynthia Tropelt_

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THE END 

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Read? Review! 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

****

Lusitania was a fascinating adventure. If someone had told me I would be writing it for more than a year, I wouldn't belive. Now, it is a fact.

This story couldn't have been possible without many people, who I want to thank.

First, thanks to my family, and my friends: Túlia, who was a great help for inspiration, she gets credits for some events all over the fic (there's a reference to her name when needed); Luís Marouvas and Luís Silva, who waited patiently until I finished one more chapter of this story (during the Summer holidays), so that I could play Diablo II – The Lord of Distruction - with them. Also, thanks to my English teacher (2001/2003), Teresa Piedade, for the constructive criticism, and for teaching me; and my Physical Education teacher (2000/2001), Inês Durão, who became a Lusitania-devoted, and also practiced her knowledgement on the English language. Thanks to my Portuguese Language teacher (2001/2002), Júlia Zorreta, who read the fic in Portuguese. ;)

During the Summer of 2001 I asked everyone in the Harry Potter Fandom, (various Yahoo Groups, especially HP_Fanfiction, HP_Paradise, ParadigmOfUncertainty and others), to participate in a Names Contest. Many people replied me. Thanks everyone! The award was I using the winning names on my characters. So, there you have it, Artio Sperios, Cynthia Tropelt, Anaras Tisanta, Carldonne… thanks to the people who sent me those names!

Perhaps the greatest thanks goes to my beta-readers. They're Jo, Lizzy, Trinity, Freda Potter, Gemma and Lilly Jackson. You helped me a lot. I know my Enlglish grammar (especially, but also other points,) improved a lot! My readers have to thank you for correcting my mistakes! I also want to thank Captain Debrowe, who I had never talked with again, and who beta-read my first three chapters. I doubt she's reading this, but if she's please email me. I lost your contact.

Another thanks to Patrícia (Nentari), for many reasons; first, because she translated Lusitania to Portuguese. You, Portuguese readers, wouldn't have it in your language if I didn't know Nentari, thank her! Then, because she's a wonderful Artist, who drew some pictures of my characters (which can be found at Lusitania Website). You can thank her reading her fic, Rebirth. Thanks to Cecil Soares who put my fic on her site (Portuguese), "Contos do Fundo do Lago".

There were many other artists who drew my characters. Eternally thankful to you: Karen McVicker, Ginny Ha-Ha, Weasleygurl21, Rowan Rose, Magsby, Kaori, Galya, Dayna, Nentari, Bubblegum, Tangle and Aline Carneiro!

The reviews are, for me, like oxygen. Fictionalley displays a review board, and there I found many opinions about my story. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and my readers helped me many times writing some critics on my fic. Thanks to everyone who posted a review at Lusitania review boards. They are: Baal extremely Evil, ACeltic Flame, MinistressTaraBlake, twelveeyes, Belladonna Patil, Bubblegum, queenkakia, Trinity Black, Magsby, Mauraudergirl86, honeyduke, Hippie In A Chevy, mathmorob, annabel andrews, Lady Gambalerina, Mary, lil hermie girl, vicki, hotpepper567, Crystalite, Aisling Kinsella, chisakami, Tranquility2003, QuidditchChick01, Becca Padfoot, Roseann Riddle, Misa Black, Krisi, Annchen, AquilisRose, Ayla Pascal, Elfinkat, AmandaMancini, aliciababy23, Ariel Bumblepot, Yen, Wolf of Solitude, Wormtail, Aline Carneiro, Ana Luís, Rachel Granger, Kahlessk, Nentari, Gemma, Sarah a.k.a. Rafaela, Radical and Sirius Black.

I created a Yahoo!Group, Lusitania, for my readers to discuss my story, and I want to thank everyone who joined my group: blackmetallicasabbath, misablack, brunoroah, clarissescully, universo985szabinasnape, piolha_elektrica, zsmile1101, danthebookworm_hp, loborubro, hsfnww, egoamodraco, daaliat, angelet13, crazy_laulo, xiieyed, beira_carla, lalalaura6, artio_sperios, magsbyut, tuliat, poesierose7, fabiannab, nentari and kiki16br. You can join the list right now, if you want. Just click here.

Now that my story is complete, you have your answers to every question I made you ask. Anyways, if you want to ask me something, due to this fic, or other, or none, email me at siriuswhite@schnoogle.com or siriuswhite1@yahoo.com.br

If you have free time to read fanfiction, I suggest you some fics that are catching me up. They're Rebirth by Nentari, Galatea by Irina, Jewel of the Harem – The Grindelwald Continuum, Book One, by Anise, Darkness Over Bulgaria by Viktor Krum, The Road Not Taken by Aisling Kinsella and Love from Hate by Mary and Rebbeckah.

Now, the future: I am working on a co-writing project. My partner is Nentari, who is writing Rebirth. I incentive you reading her fic, because _our_ fic may deal with subjects described on both Lusitania and Rebirth. I will let you know, when this is released. I assure you it will be lovely.

If you want to be notified when the new fic is up, please write your email on yout review or email me at siriuswhite1@yahoo.com.br  

One year after the beginning, 

Sirius White

*******

Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and **post reviews ****here**.

*******

Dear readers,

_Lusitania_ is now complete. I hope you liked it. I would love to hear your opinions, if you also want to say what you think about the fic, write your reviews at http://www.fictionalley.org/ficalley/reviews/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=129 

Other fics will come, I already have a project of co-writing with Nentari :) Our fic, _Dragon Wings_, will be online in a month or so, but, unfortunately (or not), we won't post it here.

You might understand us, it's quite difficult to upload every site/group everytime we have a new chapter. And, plus, it will be a click away from here.

Yes, the fic will be uploaded to fictionalley.org, more exactly to schnoogle.com. The author name might be Sirius and Nentari… just search for that author name and you'll be redirected to the correct page…

Or (this way you'll *surely* find it):

Check the updates page of my site, www.angelfire.com/stars3/sirius_white/Updates.html and you'll notice if there's something new.

You can also check fanArt and the fanfic _Rebirth_ (by Nentari) at www.angelfire.com/stars3/sirius_white/ 

Now, about the upcoming fic: it's related to _Lusitania_ (by Sirius White) and _Rebirth_ (by Nentari). It might be seen as a prequel to both those fics but you don't have to read them to understand _Dragon Wings_. I can tell you that it won't be centered in the Dolphin House of Lusitania Magical Academy of Sorcery and Magecraft (as _Lusitania_ was), and that it will be related to Dragons yet many other things… if you want to know more, email me at siriuswhite1@yahoo.com.br I would love to hear from you and I promise I'll reply. Or IM me whenever you want, my contacts: Y!M siriuswhite1 , AIM Stormdsky , ICQ # 48306285 .

I'm very happy you're reading this, that means that you've read my fic _Lusitania_!

Thank you very much,

Sirius White****


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